Fic - Love and War - 14/?
Title: Love and War
Rating: K+
Pairing: JackGwen
Summary: Whilst Gwen is in an emotional crisis, war threatens both Torchwood and the world, and Gwen must put her feelings aside as she and Jack travel to Paris for a world conference. Why are the weevils so restless? What's the Louvre got to do with the rift? And who the hell is Jack Harkness really?
Author's Notes: Please R & R
14/?
The next morning, Gwen awoke to the war cries of George and Harry charging through the clearing. Maggie emerged out of the tent, her hair ruffled, looking long suffering as she marched over to them and taking them by their shirts in either of her hands, led them back over to the tent.
Smiling, Gwen ran her hand through her hair as she got out of the blanket and sat up. Jack was still asleep next to her, and she didn’t like to wake him. Getting up, she helped Maggie make breakfast, which was several pans full of porridge for everyone. She was just pouring the porridge into as many bowls and pans as Maggie and her could find, when the twins came out of the tent once more, making noises as if they were red Indians, and jumped onto the sleeping Jack.
Maggie cried out to stop them, but the boys paid no attention to her, and Gwen just started to laugh as Jack yelped when awoken by the twins jumping on him. He soon saw the funny side of it, and came over to the fire and accepted his bowl of porridge with a grin on his face, waving away Maggie’s hurried apologies and threats of lots of pain to the boys.
After breakfast, Mike said that he’d take them down to the town, and they said their goodbyes to everyone. Jack ruffled the twins’ hair as he said goodbye, and as he climbed into the back of the open-aired truck Mike drove, he chuckled as he muttered “Little tykes”, and waved to them all.
They arrived in the town of Cinderford at about nine, and thanking Mike for everything, waved him off as they stood on the high street, wondering what to do next. Rummaging in his pockets for some change, Jack bought them a hot cross bun each as they looked around for a way to Cardiff. Thankfully, they soon found a hire car centre, owned by a man with slick dark hair. He showed them around, always one step in front of them, pointing out the good qualities of his various cars. However, Jack and Gwen couldn’t see one which would last five minutes on a main road, that was, until they came to the back of the showroom, where he kept his little cars, which he didn’t really want to rent. Gwen guessed this might be because they were too good quality for his liking to be let loose on the roads, and he was keeping them for very special customers - or at least those with a large amount of money.
The man was just sighing and saying it was a pity they didn’t find anything to their liking when Jack caught sight of a small red smart car, gleaming in the morning sun, its paint fresh and its tires clean. Jack turned around to the man, and raised his eyebrows at him.
xxx
“Right - Cardiff here we come!” Jack whooped as he sped out of the little town, behind the wheel of the smart car.
It had taken all their money and persuasive skills to get the man to lend them his obviously newest possession, and his pride and joy - pretty much the only car he owned that actually ran. Still, Gwen and Jack were now speeding away from England, and towards Wales, and more specifically - Cardiff.
As they drove, they saw the devastation. Smoke could be seen on the horizon on all sides. When they tried to get onto a main road, they found their way blocked. A yellow sign was placed in the middle of the road, instructing them to turn around.
Jack was just about to do a rather dangerous u-turn, when Gwen caught sight of a police car nestled in the side of the road, almost hidden from view it was parked so deep in the hedgerow.
“Wait here.” She instructed Jack, as she clicked off her seatbelt, and ran towards the police car. She still tried to use her previous job as a policewoman to her advantage, and quite a lot of the time it actually worked.
When she reached the police car, she looked in through the window to find two officers, a dark haired man, and a woman with short blonde hair….otherwise occupied. Their attention was clearly more focused on each other’s lips rather than the job in hand.
Smiling, and knocking on the window, Gwen prepared herself.
The blonde woman jumped and looked around, shocked. Seeing Gwen, she flushed, and wound down the window. “Yes, can I help?” She asked, irritated, pushing a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear.
Gwen smiled. “Sorry to interrupt you, it’s just that I need to get through. I’m from Torchwood.” She flashed her card. “We need to get through to Cardiff immediately. It’s an emergency.” She smiled at the woman. “I used to be a policewoman you know.”
The blonde woman frowned. “Torchwood? Who the hell is Torchwood? We’ve no information about giving you clearance. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to find another way. Or even better, don’t go to Cardiff at all. From what I’ve heard, it’s a bit of a bombsite at the moment.”
“But that’s why we need to get through -”
“Sorry, no can do. Ta ra.” And with that she wound the window up and turned back to her colleague, who had just about recovered from their previous bout of kissing.
“Thanks very much.” Gwen muttered, wrapping her coat around her as she marched back to the car. Flinging the door open, she climbed in, shaking her head.
“No luck?” Jack asked, starting up the car.
“Flippin’ woman was more interested in her boyfriend than in any disaster going on. You know sometimes I’m so glad I left the police force. Load of nutters.”
Spinning the wheel around, Jack spun the car around so that it was facing the opposite way, spinning Gwen’s stomach as well. “I’m glad you left the police force too.” He announced, driving the car off once again with a screech.
They took the back roads, going through the Forest of Dean instead of around it. Whilst poking around in the compartment in the dashboard of the car, Gwen found a map (amongst other items; a magazine, a packet of chewits which they soon made use of, and a National Trust handbook for some bizarre reason) which she unfolded and soon got into a pickle with.
Navigating their way down small lanes through the forest was no easy business, they soon discovered, and many times Jack had to do a three-point turn whilst trying to avoid a flock of marauding sheep. One time they even nearly ended up in a pond, thanks to Gwen’s directions of “Right. Right. No, I mean left, left!” Reversing with a grim look on his face, Gwen tried hard not to laugh as Jack drove off at top speed, away from the squawking ducks that they had appeared to have disturbed.
Every time they tried to get onto a main road it was the same as before: a large sign blocking the way and a police car to get around. Gwen tried to persuade their way through at least twice more, but after the third time when whilst explaining to an elderly policeman who she was representing, he received a call on his intercom from the policeman she had tried to bargain with before, telling him to “Pay no attention to Torchwood, they’re a load of snobs who don’t give a damn about people” and was turned away “tout suite”, she decided to leave it, and to try and navigate their way to Cardiff down all the lanes.
They made their way through Wales along the top of the valleys, cutting along lanes, and eventually made their way down the valleys, which Jack enjoyed immensely, having great fun zooming down the long valley roads, the hills on either side with trees hanging over the road. Sadly, the only problem with taking all the lanes was that by the time they saw a signpost for Cardiff, it was late afternoon, as they had spent a lot of the day zooming around the Forest of Dean and getting lost in the valleys and dales of Wales.
As they got closer to Cardiff, they got faster, as they knew their way. They were able to cut down alleyways and through estates. However, getting into Cardiff was not easy. Police were surrounding all the main roads, and indeed lots of the smaller ones. Traffic was also incredibly heavy, no thanks to the restrictions on which roads you could use, and it wasn’t long before they were stuck in a queue that showed no sign of moving.
Jack vented his anger by resting his elbow on the horn of the car and leaving it there, honking away loudly.
Gwen was banging her head against the window continuously every few seconds, gazing out with blank eyes. Suddenly, she had an idea.
“Jack,” she said, raising her head, “see that alleyway over there?”
He looked up, his eyes bleary. “Uh huh. What about it?”
“Do you think you could get down there?”
The sparkle came back into his eyes. “Where does it go?”
“Back behind the flats where my old Nan used to live. That’s not far from the city centre.”
Jack looked as if he could have kissed her. Grinning, he changed gear. “Gwen Cooper, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you’re a genius!” With that, he sprung out of the queue of traffic and reversing a little, Jack winked at Gwen before shooting forwards and down the little alleyway, to the sound of honking horns and shouts of those still stuck in the queue.
They rumbled down the alleyway, the rough gravel on the ground shaking the little car from side to side. Still, the two didn’t care; they were free from the evil torment that was traffic jams! They had a short incident when they stopped suddenly when they caught sight of two small shapes in the headlights, having had to turn them on shortly after entering Cardiff, which they thought were weevils, but which turned out to be two teenage boys in navy hoodies, who ran away down a lane crossing over the alleyway.
The alleyway ended up coming out not far from the bar they had been investigating what seemed like years ago, but what was in fact not a week ago. However, the police were still everywhere here, and upon seeing their car come out of the alley, they seemed to guess that they’d got through into the capital city in not exactly the conventional way, and definitely had not been checked for explosives.
So it was that no sooner had Jack given a cry of triumph and cried “I know exactly where we are! We’ll be back at base within quarter of an hour”, that they were forced to drive off at top speed as they heard sirens and were soon being chased by a police car.
“Bloody police force!” Jack muttered as he headed off down another alleyway, hoping it would be too narrow for the large police car to follow them down.
“Excuse me!” Gwen said, clinging onto the dashboard as Jack drove recklessly through the dark.
When they emerged from the second alleyway, Jack paused, the nose of the car peeking out of the alleyway. He listened carefully, and then his face broke out into a smile. “I think we lost them.” He whispered happily, when suddenly they heard that all too familiar screeching noise, and muttering “Maybe not” he drove off again, turning the car down roads in an abstract fashion, getting themselves totally lost.
“Well, at least we’ve lost the police.” Jack said, as he sat in the car underneath a streetlight, so Gwen could study the A-Z of Cardiff they found on the back shelf.
“I can’t believe I’m actually lost in my own hometown.” Gwen hissed angrily, turning another page to try and find at least where they had been a moment ago.
It was not long before they got their bearings, and then once again Jack careered off, heading for the city centre, this time taking every back way he could. They had barely gone near the centre when they heard an explosion and gunshots.
“Seems they’ve called in the army.” Jack muttered, looking around for somewhere to park. They were just heading towards the docks when suddenly three soldiers jumped out in front of them, rifles raised pointed at them.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Jack yelled, raising his hands as he put the breaks on. He leant his head out of the window. “What the hell is going on here?” He asked.
The soldiers looked confused, obviously hardly more aware of what was really going on than Jack and Gwen. One looked up, raising his gun higher. “Name?” He asked.
Jack produced his pass, flashing it over to the solder. “Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper. We’re Torchwood. Now where is your commander, I demand to speak to him at once!”
The soldier who had spoken looked worried. “I was only doing what I was told to do, sir. You don’t need to report me, or anything.”
Jack looked exasperated. “I’m not going to report you, you idiot! I just need to talk to him! Now where is he? Do you realise there’s a war going on?”
“Yes, sir. We’re based in that warehouse right over there, sir.” The soldier now looked terrified. Gwen felt a little sorry for him.
Jack nodded. “Good man. Now get back to your job and start attacking weevils instead of humans!” He turned back to Gwen as he wound the window up, and changed the gear of the car once again. “You do reckon he knows about weevils, don’t you Gwen?”
She shrugged. “Well, he does now.”
Nodding, his eyebrows raised, Jack sped off towards the warehouse the soldier had pointed out.
xx
Nearing the end now.. well, sort of.. :D
Rating: K+
Pairing: JackGwen
Summary: Whilst Gwen is in an emotional crisis, war threatens both Torchwood and the world, and Gwen must put her feelings aside as she and Jack travel to Paris for a world conference. Why are the weevils so restless? What's the Louvre got to do with the rift? And who the hell is Jack Harkness really?
Author's Notes: Please R & R
14/?
The next morning, Gwen awoke to the war cries of George and Harry charging through the clearing. Maggie emerged out of the tent, her hair ruffled, looking long suffering as she marched over to them and taking them by their shirts in either of her hands, led them back over to the tent.
Smiling, Gwen ran her hand through her hair as she got out of the blanket and sat up. Jack was still asleep next to her, and she didn’t like to wake him. Getting up, she helped Maggie make breakfast, which was several pans full of porridge for everyone. She was just pouring the porridge into as many bowls and pans as Maggie and her could find, when the twins came out of the tent once more, making noises as if they were red Indians, and jumped onto the sleeping Jack.
Maggie cried out to stop them, but the boys paid no attention to her, and Gwen just started to laugh as Jack yelped when awoken by the twins jumping on him. He soon saw the funny side of it, and came over to the fire and accepted his bowl of porridge with a grin on his face, waving away Maggie’s hurried apologies and threats of lots of pain to the boys.
After breakfast, Mike said that he’d take them down to the town, and they said their goodbyes to everyone. Jack ruffled the twins’ hair as he said goodbye, and as he climbed into the back of the open-aired truck Mike drove, he chuckled as he muttered “Little tykes”, and waved to them all.
They arrived in the town of Cinderford at about nine, and thanking Mike for everything, waved him off as they stood on the high street, wondering what to do next. Rummaging in his pockets for some change, Jack bought them a hot cross bun each as they looked around for a way to Cardiff. Thankfully, they soon found a hire car centre, owned by a man with slick dark hair. He showed them around, always one step in front of them, pointing out the good qualities of his various cars. However, Jack and Gwen couldn’t see one which would last five minutes on a main road, that was, until they came to the back of the showroom, where he kept his little cars, which he didn’t really want to rent. Gwen guessed this might be because they were too good quality for his liking to be let loose on the roads, and he was keeping them for very special customers - or at least those with a large amount of money.
The man was just sighing and saying it was a pity they didn’t find anything to their liking when Jack caught sight of a small red smart car, gleaming in the morning sun, its paint fresh and its tires clean. Jack turned around to the man, and raised his eyebrows at him.
xxx
“Right - Cardiff here we come!” Jack whooped as he sped out of the little town, behind the wheel of the smart car.
It had taken all their money and persuasive skills to get the man to lend them his obviously newest possession, and his pride and joy - pretty much the only car he owned that actually ran. Still, Gwen and Jack were now speeding away from England, and towards Wales, and more specifically - Cardiff.
As they drove, they saw the devastation. Smoke could be seen on the horizon on all sides. When they tried to get onto a main road, they found their way blocked. A yellow sign was placed in the middle of the road, instructing them to turn around.
Jack was just about to do a rather dangerous u-turn, when Gwen caught sight of a police car nestled in the side of the road, almost hidden from view it was parked so deep in the hedgerow.
“Wait here.” She instructed Jack, as she clicked off her seatbelt, and ran towards the police car. She still tried to use her previous job as a policewoman to her advantage, and quite a lot of the time it actually worked.
When she reached the police car, she looked in through the window to find two officers, a dark haired man, and a woman with short blonde hair….otherwise occupied. Their attention was clearly more focused on each other’s lips rather than the job in hand.
Smiling, and knocking on the window, Gwen prepared herself.
The blonde woman jumped and looked around, shocked. Seeing Gwen, she flushed, and wound down the window. “Yes, can I help?” She asked, irritated, pushing a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear.
Gwen smiled. “Sorry to interrupt you, it’s just that I need to get through. I’m from Torchwood.” She flashed her card. “We need to get through to Cardiff immediately. It’s an emergency.” She smiled at the woman. “I used to be a policewoman you know.”
The blonde woman frowned. “Torchwood? Who the hell is Torchwood? We’ve no information about giving you clearance. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to find another way. Or even better, don’t go to Cardiff at all. From what I’ve heard, it’s a bit of a bombsite at the moment.”
“But that’s why we need to get through -”
“Sorry, no can do. Ta ra.” And with that she wound the window up and turned back to her colleague, who had just about recovered from their previous bout of kissing.
“Thanks very much.” Gwen muttered, wrapping her coat around her as she marched back to the car. Flinging the door open, she climbed in, shaking her head.
“No luck?” Jack asked, starting up the car.
“Flippin’ woman was more interested in her boyfriend than in any disaster going on. You know sometimes I’m so glad I left the police force. Load of nutters.”
Spinning the wheel around, Jack spun the car around so that it was facing the opposite way, spinning Gwen’s stomach as well. “I’m glad you left the police force too.” He announced, driving the car off once again with a screech.
They took the back roads, going through the Forest of Dean instead of around it. Whilst poking around in the compartment in the dashboard of the car, Gwen found a map (amongst other items; a magazine, a packet of chewits which they soon made use of, and a National Trust handbook for some bizarre reason) which she unfolded and soon got into a pickle with.
Navigating their way down small lanes through the forest was no easy business, they soon discovered, and many times Jack had to do a three-point turn whilst trying to avoid a flock of marauding sheep. One time they even nearly ended up in a pond, thanks to Gwen’s directions of “Right. Right. No, I mean left, left!” Reversing with a grim look on his face, Gwen tried hard not to laugh as Jack drove off at top speed, away from the squawking ducks that they had appeared to have disturbed.
Every time they tried to get onto a main road it was the same as before: a large sign blocking the way and a police car to get around. Gwen tried to persuade their way through at least twice more, but after the third time when whilst explaining to an elderly policeman who she was representing, he received a call on his intercom from the policeman she had tried to bargain with before, telling him to “Pay no attention to Torchwood, they’re a load of snobs who don’t give a damn about people” and was turned away “tout suite”, she decided to leave it, and to try and navigate their way to Cardiff down all the lanes.
They made their way through Wales along the top of the valleys, cutting along lanes, and eventually made their way down the valleys, which Jack enjoyed immensely, having great fun zooming down the long valley roads, the hills on either side with trees hanging over the road. Sadly, the only problem with taking all the lanes was that by the time they saw a signpost for Cardiff, it was late afternoon, as they had spent a lot of the day zooming around the Forest of Dean and getting lost in the valleys and dales of Wales.
As they got closer to Cardiff, they got faster, as they knew their way. They were able to cut down alleyways and through estates. However, getting into Cardiff was not easy. Police were surrounding all the main roads, and indeed lots of the smaller ones. Traffic was also incredibly heavy, no thanks to the restrictions on which roads you could use, and it wasn’t long before they were stuck in a queue that showed no sign of moving.
Jack vented his anger by resting his elbow on the horn of the car and leaving it there, honking away loudly.
Gwen was banging her head against the window continuously every few seconds, gazing out with blank eyes. Suddenly, she had an idea.
“Jack,” she said, raising her head, “see that alleyway over there?”
He looked up, his eyes bleary. “Uh huh. What about it?”
“Do you think you could get down there?”
The sparkle came back into his eyes. “Where does it go?”
“Back behind the flats where my old Nan used to live. That’s not far from the city centre.”
Jack looked as if he could have kissed her. Grinning, he changed gear. “Gwen Cooper, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you’re a genius!” With that, he sprung out of the queue of traffic and reversing a little, Jack winked at Gwen before shooting forwards and down the little alleyway, to the sound of honking horns and shouts of those still stuck in the queue.
They rumbled down the alleyway, the rough gravel on the ground shaking the little car from side to side. Still, the two didn’t care; they were free from the evil torment that was traffic jams! They had a short incident when they stopped suddenly when they caught sight of two small shapes in the headlights, having had to turn them on shortly after entering Cardiff, which they thought were weevils, but which turned out to be two teenage boys in navy hoodies, who ran away down a lane crossing over the alleyway.
The alleyway ended up coming out not far from the bar they had been investigating what seemed like years ago, but what was in fact not a week ago. However, the police were still everywhere here, and upon seeing their car come out of the alley, they seemed to guess that they’d got through into the capital city in not exactly the conventional way, and definitely had not been checked for explosives.
So it was that no sooner had Jack given a cry of triumph and cried “I know exactly where we are! We’ll be back at base within quarter of an hour”, that they were forced to drive off at top speed as they heard sirens and were soon being chased by a police car.
“Bloody police force!” Jack muttered as he headed off down another alleyway, hoping it would be too narrow for the large police car to follow them down.
“Excuse me!” Gwen said, clinging onto the dashboard as Jack drove recklessly through the dark.
When they emerged from the second alleyway, Jack paused, the nose of the car peeking out of the alleyway. He listened carefully, and then his face broke out into a smile. “I think we lost them.” He whispered happily, when suddenly they heard that all too familiar screeching noise, and muttering “Maybe not” he drove off again, turning the car down roads in an abstract fashion, getting themselves totally lost.
“Well, at least we’ve lost the police.” Jack said, as he sat in the car underneath a streetlight, so Gwen could study the A-Z of Cardiff they found on the back shelf.
“I can’t believe I’m actually lost in my own hometown.” Gwen hissed angrily, turning another page to try and find at least where they had been a moment ago.
It was not long before they got their bearings, and then once again Jack careered off, heading for the city centre, this time taking every back way he could. They had barely gone near the centre when they heard an explosion and gunshots.
“Seems they’ve called in the army.” Jack muttered, looking around for somewhere to park. They were just heading towards the docks when suddenly three soldiers jumped out in front of them, rifles raised pointed at them.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Jack yelled, raising his hands as he put the breaks on. He leant his head out of the window. “What the hell is going on here?” He asked.
The soldiers looked confused, obviously hardly more aware of what was really going on than Jack and Gwen. One looked up, raising his gun higher. “Name?” He asked.
Jack produced his pass, flashing it over to the solder. “Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper. We’re Torchwood. Now where is your commander, I demand to speak to him at once!”
The soldier who had spoken looked worried. “I was only doing what I was told to do, sir. You don’t need to report me, or anything.”
Jack looked exasperated. “I’m not going to report you, you idiot! I just need to talk to him! Now where is he? Do you realise there’s a war going on?”
“Yes, sir. We’re based in that warehouse right over there, sir.” The soldier now looked terrified. Gwen felt a little sorry for him.
Jack nodded. “Good man. Now get back to your job and start attacking weevils instead of humans!” He turned back to Gwen as he wound the window up, and changed the gear of the car once again. “You do reckon he knows about weevils, don’t you Gwen?”
She shrugged. “Well, he does now.”
Nodding, his eyebrows raised, Jack sped off towards the warehouse the soldier had pointed out.
xx
Nearing the end now.. well, sort of.. :D