Captain Jack Harkness (cap_jack) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2016-12-22 14:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, *abby, *jen, alex drake, gene hunt, jack harkness |
December 17th time. Evening | Alex's Place
rating. PG-13 | Complete |
Jack had taken just enough time to get himself cleaned up after returning from the mission before heading over to Alex's room. He wasn't looking forward to this and still had no idea what to even tell Anwen. But either way, she was his responsibility now and the closest thing in this world to family. He knocked quietly on the door and took a step back, actually feeling his age for once as he waited for them to answer. Anwen clapped happily as Alex made funny faces at her. The little girl was old enough to know that something was going on, her mother wasn't there, but she'd had a familiar face in her Aunt Alex. Alex smiled at the little girl as she heard the knock at the door. Hearing it, she looked at Anwen and picked her up, Anwen's hand made her way to the tips of Alex's hair and she tried to pull, but it was too short for her to get any actual leverage from. "Also the reason I don't wear earrings you can grab," she teased the little girl who just giggled as Alex put her down in her crib in the bedroom. "You stay here. I'll be right back." Making her way back to the door, she was a bit surprised at who was standing there of course, and his posture wasn't putting her any more at ease. "Jack. This is unexpected, I wasn't expecting any visitors tonight." She offered him a small smile before stepping aside nonverbally asking him to come inside. Gene watched quietly as Alex set Anwen down for a nap and moved to get up to answer the door. She beat him to it so he remained on the couch, nodding in greeting as Jack stepped inside. "Evenin', Jack... Cooper with you?" he asked. At the mention of her name, Jack's breathing hitched and he forced a smile onto his face. "Hi. Sorry to just turn up, but I came to pick up Anwen. Gwen's..." He paused for a moment to compose himself before quietly saying, "Gwen's gone." Oh that wasn't good. Even before Jack started speaking, Alex could tell something was wrong. Very wrong. She shot a glance at Gene as Jack started speaking and his words shocked her. Alex felt like the air had just been knocked out of her. "What?" Alex blinked a few times, not believing what she'd just heard. "What do you mean she's gone?!"? Jack closed the door and leaned against it, raking his fingers through his hair as he took a deep breath. "She called me on the comm while we were on our mission. Something happened and she'd been attacked. But before I could get to her, they jumped me and nearly killed me. If I had actually died, I might've gotten to her in time." Gene stood up and crossed the room, a look of stunned disbelief on his face, mixed with anger. "It's not your fault, Jack. I know it feels like it because I've been there myself, but it's not your fault." For a moment, Alex just looked lost. Dazed. Her head turned so she was looking at the door to the bedroom where Anwen was lying, halfway between sleeping and waking. Gwen couldn't just be gone. They'd already gone through so much for it to end here of all places but... Alex closed her eyes, her hands curling into fists, heart breaking for her friend, for the little girl whose mum wasn't coming home... She crossed the room and grabbed one of Jack's hands giving it a squeeze. "You don't know that you dying would have worked. For all we know the rules here might be different the same way that your teleport might not have worked either." She blinked a few times, she wasn't going to cry, not now. "Teleport?" Jack gave her an odd look."Yes, it would have. It's complicated, Alex. But it was my job to protect her and I promised everything would be fine. I failed and now I'm the closest thing left that Anwen has to family in this place." "Your wrist strap," Gene commented. "Teleporter doesn't work in it because the Doctor disabled it. And she's right, Jack. Maybe in this place you wouldn't have come back to life like you do back on your world." "And she doesn't just have you," Alex added, giving Jack's hand a squeeze. "She has us. We've known Gwen for a long time. Longer than this," she indicated the room they were in. Taking a breath to keep herself collected, internally she was a mess. "You do too." "And I've known her for years and helped to take care of Anwen before when she was in the hospital!" Jack snapped back in frustration. "That was your Gwen," Gene said quietly as he rested a hand on Jack Jack's shoulder. "Not this one." "This one was still my Gwen too," Jack replied softly, blinking back the tears. Alex moved and pulled Jack into a hug. What more was there to say? Forcing herself to hold back her own emotions for her friend, she tried to console the man who had once again just lost the person most near and dear to him. And in the other room, sleeping silently was a little girl who didn't even know that her life had just been turned upside down... Alex already knew how much this would effect her... Family. Right now all they all had was family. Jack hugged her back, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to fight down his emotions. He'd come to think of them as friends (thanks to Gwen) and knew they were both feeling her loss just as much as he was. "Thank you," Jack whispered. Gene was oddly silent as he watched them both. It just kept repeating itself, didn't it? Too many kids losing their parents. And since Alex herself had lost her own parents at an early age, she knew exactly what that little girl was about to go through. "I've heard her slip and call you daddy before. She might be little, but Anwen knows somethin's different between you and the Jack that lived with 'er and Gwen." "But, you're still her family," Alex continued. "And right now she's going to need you, all of us." She was not going to let another little one go through this feeling alone. Not again. "Yeah, I know. I don't even know how I'm going to tell her," Jack admitted. "But thank you... both of you. I appreciate it." Gene nodded and shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers. "If you need anythin', we're 'ere for you both," he promised. "Gwen was family to us and so's that little girl. That includes you now, Jack. You might not be the one we knew, but you're damn close in every way." "For right now..." Alex's voice cracked as she pulled back from the hug and looked again at the doorway to the bedroom. "For now, just let her sleep..." She blinked away a few tears. "Let her have one more night." One more night before the reality happened that her mother wasn't coming home. Jack followed her gaze towards the bedroom and frowned slightly. Part of him wanted to argue and say no, but the emotion in Alex's voice... "Sure. I'll pick her up tomorrow morning." Gene looked down at the floor, then back to Jack as he quietly said, "Thank you." He reached out and gently took hold of Alex's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Nothing to thank us for. It's what you do for family," she replied with a weak smile. Still, she didn't let go of Jack's hand. She glanced behind herself at Gene before making up her mind. Because this was what family did too. "Stay here tonight. With us. All of us. This isn't a time to be alone." "I can order in some takeaway for the three of us," Gene offered. "But you're kippin' on the couch. Bastard beds are already small enough for me to squeeze in with Bolly." Jack laughed and nodded, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "Okay, deal." To be completely honest, he didn't really want to be alone tonight anyways. |