Martha Jones (walkedtheearth) wrote in tw_newworlds, @ 2013-07-25 16:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | jack harkness, nexus reality |
Who: The Family - or ALMOST family - Harkness, and maybe Nexus!Ianto and Owen (if we wanna npc them)
What: The Dark Nexus rears its ugly head (and I do mean UGLY)
When: February 9, 2011
Where: Torchwood Hub, Cardiff, Wales
Why: Because the evilest of evil is yet to happen.
Martha grabbed the vial of blood that was sitting on the table, putting it into the centerfuge. It was just another day at the hub... a day where they'd brought Melissa with them after school because, for whatever reason, they never seemed to be able to keep a babysitter for more than a few months. It was just another thing that Martha had on her list of things to talk to her little girl about soon. But not today.
The dark-haired child was sitting on the examination table playing a video game with her legs swinging, happily humming and occasionally taking the time to poke and bother Owen. It was something that - while she didn't condone it - Martha couldn't help but laugh at. He was just so easy to get riled up, admittedly it had gotten better since he and Tosh had started dating, but still, amusing to watch, and she didn't even feel bad for it.
When she and Jack had announced their engagement, Ianto had insisted on there being some sort of celebration. Everyone had been happy for them... Owen going so far to say that it was about time. Almost everyone had agreed. The party was scheduled for the end of the week, but for now there was a lot of work to be done. and reports that needed to be gone over. "Owen? I'm heading up to the meeting room where we left the files for sorting." She reached out for Melissa's hand and he two headed up, passing Ianto on the stair. Melissa took something from his tray and ran down the hall laughing, with Martha following after smiling, taking her coffee and thanking him. She hated paperwork, but with Melissa there at least it wouldn't be boring until Jack got back...
The alarms went off and the lights flashed when the large cog wheeled door rolled to the side, revealing the form of Captain Jack Harkness. He strolled into the main area of the Hub, set the silver containment case on the coffee table, and smiled as he looked around.
"Hey Ianto... can you bring some coffee up to the my office?" he asked. "Tosh... have fun with the thing in the case. See what you can find out about it for me. I've got a pretty good guess what it is, but I want to see what you come up with first."
Making his way into his office, Jack shrugged off his greatcoat and hung it on the wall. He flipped open his wrist strap and pressed a button, activating the comm system. "You here in the nest, Nightingale? Or out and about someplace?" he asked curiously.
Jack's voice cut through the conference room, causing Melissa to look around and Martha to smile. He was back, she'd heard the klaxon go off, but she hadn't been certain who it was. The assignment that had called him away for much of the day. Hearing is voice and knowing that he was okay caused a relief, seemingly curing a worry she was only semi-aware that she even had.
She pushed a button on the tabletop with a smile, Melissa watching as she did so. "Both your Nightingale and the baby bird are in the conference room," she said, reporting in. It was good to hear that he was back. "You stay where you are," she smiled. Standing up she grabbed Melissa's hand and they walked out of the conference room. From there it wasn't hard to see Jack. The hub was large, but not THAT large. They made their way over to him, Martha holding Melissa's hand, and kissing him in greeting. "Welcome back."
"Thanks... good to be back," he replied, touching his earpiece. Jack grinned and kissed Martha in return, then scooped up his little girl and hugged her.
"So what've you two been up to while I was out dealing with the UNIT and the Prime Minister?"
Marissa laughed, wrapping her arms around her father's neck. It really was a touching scene, and to some degree, Martha wished she had a camera. She kissed her fiancée back, joining the family hug while her soon-to-be daughter started to go on about their day.
"And then Martha picked me up! I got to ride in the front seat, and Owen did something really silly!" Melissa was very excited.
Martha ran a hand through Jack's hair, not even pulling back when Ianto - seeming to know where he was brought the coffee in instead of bringing it to his office. "UNIT didn't give you any trouble, did they?" Despite it all, there was still tension because of Martha's treatment. "And what exactly did the Prime Minister do this time?" She was curious. Shelved it when they were all together. It was a reunion each time. Melissa had started fiddling with Martha's engagement ring, turning it on her finger.
"What'd Owen do this time?" Jack asked, setting his daughter back down. He smiled as Martha's fingers ran through his hair and he nodded his thanks to Ianto for the coffee.
"The usual. Demanding that Torchwood turn over files, to which I promptly told them to shove it. And considering we've had less incidents where things have gone wrong than UNIT has, they had to eat their words. Plus it always helps that the Torchwood charter puts us well out of their jurisdiction."
Melissa whispered the answer into her father's ear, giggling the entire time. She couldn't help it. He made the funniest faces at the oddest moments! It never failed to amuse the young girl. On the other hand it didn't amuse Owen as much, who Melissa seemed to say these things to with the intention of making him make faces.
On the other side, Martha couldn't believe they were still after those files. It was months later. "They really want to see what we're hiding... don't they?" She rubbed her temple. A few months earlier something had come out of the rift and had caused havoc in downtown Cardiff. The whole happening had been a nightmare. It wasn't something any of them wanted to repeat. Tosh had gotten hurt, and although she was now back to normal, it had been harrowing for everyone. "We should probably up security again. Tosh said that they tried to access the computer banks last week... they're getting more desperate..." she really didn't like this. They weren't supposed to be at war with one another. But it seemed UNIT wasn't about to let it go...
"We'll just add a few more layers of security and that should take care of them. It's ridiculous though... I don't care how many times they ask. They're not getting access to anything that I don't think they need."
He grinned at Melissa and pulled a sucker out of his pocket, handing it to her.
"They're nothing if not persistent," this Martha admitted freely. It was something she'd noticed while working there so long ago. And it worried her a bit. Sometimes UNIT didn't know when to step back. And they really did need to learn. Because one day they would try something and it would be too late...
Melissa seemed rather oblivious to the adult conversation that was going on. She took the lolly and smiled, unwrapping it and putting it in her mouth. Martha just shook her head. He knew that this would ruin the girl's dinner, but it made her so happy. It really was the little things.
It was something she'd missed while he was away. When it was the two of them sometimes Gwen would come over or Tosh. Ianto had even come around this time. He'd spent more than a little time at the home over the last week. And it was something of a comfort to Martha to have a friend nearby. But Jack was back now. And that was the greatest comfort of all.
Unfortunately it wasn't to last for long. Work needed to be gotten back to. And the latest trouble with the rift had been ongoing since Jack had to leave. It was more fodder for UNIT and the government, but neither one of them could control it. And thus they really had no authority. The last week there had been spikes in energy levels and it seemed that something had come through but there was no evidence. Everyone had been very careful. They wanted nothing to go wrong. She kissed Jack again smiling, glancing at Melissa. "I told her that I'd take her to see Tangled after work," she smiled. "Would you like to join us? There is singing."
Jack had no idea what Tangled was. But considering it was something that Martha said she was going to take Melissa to see, he assumed that it was some kind of a kids thing. Probably a movie over at the cinema.
He pulled a face when she mentioned the singing, just joking around and to see her reaction. Jack sighed and rolled his eyes, then said, "Well I guess if I have to... I suppose I could be persuaded to go with you girls."
She knew that he was joking, with the amount that he sung. He had to be. If he wasn't she knew that not only would she have to deal with a disappointed Melissa but also call him a hypocrite. Martha leaned in and whispered something in his ear, so only he could hear before pulling back. "So, is that incentive enough for you?" She had a wicked smile on her lips as she asked the question. Melissa not really getting what they were whispering about just wanted to hear her father say yes that he would come.
These family moments had been happening more and more frequently since she'd joined them, moving in with Jack, and it was something that Tosh often commented on. Something that Martha loved. When she'd called her mother to tell her about the engagement, Francine Jones had been almost as thrilled as Martha herself. She'd had to convince her not to fly out the next day.
Unfortunately, there were other things at play that afternoon. Not something that the three in the room could know yet, but there was some noise coming from outside. It didn't sound like anything out of the ordinary. Had they been monitoring the levels - which were checked once every three hours - then they might have known something was wrong, but it really was too late. The noises outside became louder and there was running... Something was going on, it sounded like running. "I thought that the basketball game wasn't planned until tomorrow," Martha commented, curiously.
"Oh yeah... definitely incentive enough," he replied with a smirk. He heard the noise too and gave Martha a puzzled look. "It's not."
He pressed a button on his wrist strap, opening the comms to everyone on the team. "What's going on out there, guys?"
Several seconds passed before any noise other than static came across the comm. Something that was uncommon. Owen was known to jump on the comms in a second and answer. But he didn't this time. In fact he wasn't the one to call in at all. There was some noise on the other end, but it sounded faint, like the end of a cell phone call when someone didn't mean to dial you and the phone was in their pocket. And then there was a bang. It could be heard through the closed conference room door, and it made Martha's eyes widen.
Melissa looked up, not sure what it was but to her it had sounded like someone had dropped something. This was not good. Martha - by her nature - didn't like guns. She healed for a living, guns just made her job that much harder. But at that moment, whatever was going through her head... "Tosh? Owen? Ianto? Gwen? Respond please," she tried to keep her voice normal, but there was an underlying fear to it. What was going on out there?! They couldn't have been infiltrated! The alarms would have gone off!
"Stay here," Jack replied in a firm tone of voice, looking at the both of them. "Don't even think about leaving this room until I come back."
Jack pulled his Webley from the holster and cautiously crept down the tunnel leading back towards the main area of the Hub. He still couldn't raise anyone on the comms. When he reached the end of the tunnel, Jack scanned the room for any signs of an intruder.
Tosh was lying on the floor near her work station, her blouse stained with red. Jack felt for a pulse and frowned when he couldn't find one. Ianto was nowhere in sight, and neither was Gwen. Down in Owen's Med Bay, the young doctor was also lying dead, his unblinking eyes staring up at the ceiling.
It was like New Years Eve of '99 all over again.
Martha knew better to argue with Jack when he used that tone. Under more normal circumstances she wouldn't have bothered to argue, she would have grabbed her kit and ran out before he had a chance to even say anything! But these were not normal circumstances. Jack would have yelled at her trying to get her back inside, but there was no way she was going to leave Melissa alone. The little girl was looking up at her, seeming to not fully comprehend what was going on, other than the fact that something was wrong. And it was. Something was terribly wrong.
Melissa looked up at Martha and the doctor put a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, he's just going to find everyone..." The little girl nodded and held to her leg. The fact that no one could be raised on the comms was a bad sign. A VERY Bad sign.
Martha moved to the corner where a computer monitor was and tried in vain to pull up the live feed from outside but someone had cut off the cameras. Whoever this was they didnt want to be seen... Turning back around she put a smile on her face for Melissa. "He'll be back soon," she promised.
Unbeknownst to either of them, the culprit had a very singular goal in mind. And it would not be pretty.
Jack touched his earpiece and called out, "Gwen? Ianto? Can either of you hear me?" Again, there was no response. He walked over to the closest work station and brought up the schematic of the Hub, scanning for life signs. Tosh and Owen appeared on the screen right where Jack had found their bodies. Melissa and Martha were in the Conference Room. There was another life sign down on the shooting range, but it wasn't moving. The final one though was leaving that area and heading towards the main area of the Hub.
Jack headed to intercept whoever or whatever it was. He sighed in relief when he saw Ianto, lowering his pistol. "Ianto... at least I found someone. Tosh and Owen are dead... I want you in the Conference Room with Martha and Melissa. Keep each other safe. I'll be back shortly.
Ianto nodded and dashed off as he followed orders, while Jack headed to the shooting range, dreading what he'd discover. Unfortunately, his hunch was right. Gwen was dead as well.
There was no word from outside, and Martha was - to an extent - keeping Melissa from watching the monitor. She could see a man's hand in the camera pointing at Medical. Owen was dead. She tried to stay calm. For Melissa's sake. Whatever was here, it was picking them off one by one...
Martha heard heavy footfalls approaching and grabbed Melissa - harder than she'd intended - and pulled her behind her. Hearing the girl's uneasy sounds, she tried to sooth her the best she could. Expecially as the door opened. There was tension in the air for several seconds, until the wooden structure opened fully to reveal, "Ianto!" Martha had never been so releaved to see the Welshman. Unfortunately this was the beginning...
Jack made his way back to the main area of the Hub and refreshed the scanners. It didn't make any sense. Owen, Tosh, and Gwen were accounted for. And the only other life signs showing up were his own and three in the board room.
"Martha? You and Ianto be careful... whatever's going on, it's not showing up on the sensors. All I'm reading is me, and the three of you."
This was disturbing. Beyond disturbing. Melissa was still holding on to her soon-to-be-step-mother and Martha was staring into the monitors, trying to get a glimpse of whatever they were missing. "How can it not show up?!" she asked, this was getting to her. Everything showed up on their sensors. Last week when they'd had a steam pipe break it had come up on the sensors. "There has to be something!"
She pulled the keyboard from its compartment in the wall and started doing what Tosh had once trained her for - checking the sensor logs. But there wasn't anything. She turned around, Melissa seemed to be uptight. "Ianto, can you take a look at this?" She called the other man over, not looking at him, focused on the logs. "Jack, whatever it is, there's a spike in rift activity," she reported, surprised. The alarm hadn't gone off. That wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Or maybe she hadn't heard it? She could hear Ianto walking over, maybe he knew. "Ianto you didn't hear the alarm go off did... you?" the words died on her lips, Melissa hadn't noticed it yet, but as Martha turned around to look at the Welshman she saw it. She saw the gun.
She froze, her hand tightening on Melissa's shoulder. And there was silence in the conference room for a moment. "...Ianto?"
"Yeah, I can see it. But either way, there's no other life signs showing up here in the Hub," Jack informed her. To say that he was frustrated was an understatement.
Jack listened as he heard Martha talking to Ianto. "You guys find something?"
His face was rather emotionless, not the normal stoic look that Ianto wore about the office - with exceptions of course, but this was different... Martha swallowed and pushed Melissa behind her, the girl not having the time to see the gun that sat in the Welshman's hand.
Despite hearing Jack's voice, Martha couldn't respond. Ianto took a few steps closer and Martha tried to put more space between them. "Ianto, put the gun down..." there was a back door to the conference room. If she could get there she might be able to get Melissa out of the room before anything happened. Martha didn't know but she was shaking. But it wasn't so much the gun, it was the look on Ianto's face and the contrasting look in his eye. Like there were two things going on.
"Ianto," she pushed her voice so it sounded stronger, trying to keep Melissa from looking. "Put it down... You don't want to do this." She prayed that this worked. If she could buy them the time she needed.
But Ianto wasn't speaking back to her...
"Martha?" Jack said, still looking at the screen.
But as he heard what she was saying, Jack turned and began running as fast as he could back in the direction of the board room. "MARTHA! GET OUT OF THERE!" he yelled, hoping he'd make it in time.
Behind her Melissa seemed to have realized what was going on and she could feel the girl shaking - more than Martha herself. The doctor was determined to get her out of here in one piece. And if it meant that she didn't, well then sobeit.
Martha heard Jack yelling through the comms but before she could say anything back she Ianto's hand pressed the button and cut off the link.
Backing up more, taking Melissa with her, she got closer to the door. Ianto wasn't saying anything. And while his face seemed to be cold and yet in a rage, his eyes were... different. They looked terrified, horrified, as if he was dreading what was happening. "You don't have to do this," she tried to talk him down.
"This isn't something I wanted to do," he replied. He held the gun up, cocking it and Martha's heart skipped a beat. "But it needs to be done." The question was, was any of this Ianto or... was it possible?
"Whatever it is you want, we can work it out..." What if this wasn't Ianto? His eyes and face told two different stories. Was that probable?
Jack had his Webley in hand as he raced through the Hub. He charged down the tunnel towards the boardroom and heard the noise before he even saw the gun. Just as the first bullet impacted with his body, several more gunshots could be heard.
Ianto continued to fire at Jack, emptying nearly a full clip into the Captain. He coldly reloaded and turned away, facing the females.
Melissa started crying as she saw her father fall to the floor. She moved - trying to get away from Martha - but the doctor was having none of it. She looked to Jack, but took the time to roughly push Melissa towards the second door, shielding the girl with her body. "Keep moving!" she was desperate to get the girl out of there.
Martha could see Jack lying on the floor, his face twisted in pain. This was it. This wasn't Ianto. It couldn't be.
Melissa screamed as a bullet hit the wall to the left of them, lodging itself in the door, right above where Martha's hand was on the knob.
She was shaking, and Melissa was crying. Martha straitened and looked directly at Ianto, or whatever it was that was possessing him. His face was twisted into a hate filled expression while his eyes were terrified!
Martha swallowed and stared at him for several seconds. There was a determination in her eyes, something she was using to mask how terrified she was at the moment. but there were other considerations. She had stared down the Master. She'd saved the world. If she had to die, then that was the way it had to be.
Clearly in defiance of the man standing with the gun, turned the knob of the door, and tried to push Melissa out... and the gun went off...
Jack screamed as his eyes snapped open and he looked around. He wasn't in the Hub... where the hell was he anyways? There were no bullet wounds, he wasn't bleeding, and Ianto was nowhere in sight.
Slowly sitting up, Jack rubbed his forehead and looked around again. He was in a park... but where?
The last few weeks had been hell. Without any sort of embellishment. It had been Martha and Gwen. By themselves. In the hub. By themselves. Because Jack had disappeared. While Gwen had told her about the last time he'd disappeared - which Martha filled Gwen in on the reason - this felt different. They still hadn't exactly told Gwen, but because of the way the two of them were, Martha couldn't believe that Jack would just leave without telling her. It just hadn't made sense... And then the disappearances started happening and it wasn't just Jack anymore.
He'd been taken by a much more sinister entity that no one could identify, with no real idea of when those taken would be coming back, if they would be coming back. In the days that followed, Martha had set the sensors to scan for his unique signature - and he had one - just in case he reappeared. She'd taken to staying at the hub, sleeping in his bunk. She claimed it was because, without him there there was no one to monitor for emergencies - and there had been one or two minor ones - but in reality she just wanted to hear that alarm go off.
She'd been keeping herself busy getting Medical up to date when it had happened. The programmed alarm had gone off and - in truth - she was a bit surprised. She dashed out of medical trying to get a reading, and it finally landed in the middle of Vruskn Park. All the way across the city. There was no pattern, no trail. One second nothing, the next the energy was there.
After calling for Gwen and getting no reply - realizing that she must have left - Martha dashed to one of the vehicles and made her way to the intended target. It was early evening and the sun had started to set. The part wouldn't be that crowded, she just hoped she could find him. Her phone holding the program for tracking, she arrived in record time and started to move towards the location indicated. It had taken her half an hour to get here... But what was he doing in the park?
After a few minutes of searching she finally came across the signal. And the signal was a man.
Jack walked around the park, using his wrist strap to scan the area. There were some residual trace energies (mostly near where he'd woken up), but nothing Rift related.
"This job just gets stranger and stranger," he joked to himself. He supposed he could flag down taxi and get a ride back to the Hub, but a part of him just couldn't help wanting to stay to puzzle out this mystery.
He hears a car approaching and turning to see the familiar Torchwood SUV, breaking into a grin at the sight of the driver. "Hey there, Nightingale... what brings you out here?"
Before she could stop herself she was running towards him, having to run around two nuns before she actually got to him. Throwing her arms around him when she finally did. She closed her eyes, not even answering him.
It was almost too much. Did he know what had happened? Where the hell had he been? One second he'd been there, the next he'd been gone! And it didn't make any sense!! She was holding onto him as if her life depended on it. She knew from Gwen that he'd promised he'd never disappear like that again... so why had he?!
"So... I don't suppose you can explain how the hell I got here?" he asked, nearly being knocked off his feet when she practically tackled him.
"Not that I don't appreciate the enthusiastic welcome, but what's going on? I had the weirdest dreams. But then I wake up out here in the middle of nowhere."
Looking up at him Martha felt a weight lift from her shoulders. He was real. This wasn't a dream. But somehow he seemed to think that he'd been in one. That was telling. Very telling. She made a note to give him a full physical and scan when they got back to the hub. She wasn't letting him out of her sight.
"You call it a weird dream, I call it a damable reality!" she said seriously. "I don't know how you got here, you finally reappeared on the scanners." Swallowing before saying anything more. "You've been missing for a month and a half, Jack," she looked up at him, as if trying to find some answers. Ones she wasn't certain were coming... But she knew, she had to be right, that expecially now, he wouldn't have just left without telling her...
"I've been WHAT?!?" he asked in disbelief. Jack pulled his mobile out of his pocket and checked the time and date, frowning in confusion as he realized she was right.
"But that's impossible! I didn't... Where the hell have I been then?"
He hadn't known. This was just one of many things she was picking up on. Wherever he'd been he hadn't been aware of how much time had passed. But where could he possibly have gone? She loosened her hold on him a bit, the concern in her eyes flashing before she was all business. "There was an anomoly in the sky and when I came in the next morning - the night after Tish came in? - You were gone. We've been looking for you since."
The sun was starting to go down and there was a nip in the air. "We tried to track your," she indicated his wrist strap, "but there was nothing." Glancing about, she saw that the majority of those who had been in the park upon her arrival had left. She needed to run some tests on him. Make certain he was okay... which of course - but this was jack, he couldn't die, but what if it was something tha could spread... there were so many what ifs in her head. But mostly i was what if he disappeared again! She'd been on her own for a month, just trying to figure out where he'd been. It had - if she was honest with herself - hurt and made her worry. A LOT!
Turning back to him she steeled herself a bit. "I think we should continue this discussion somewhere that isn't a park..."
"Yeah..." Jack looked around and frowned, then turned and nodded to Martha. "Let's get out of here."
At this point, he didn't care where they went. So long as he wasn't in the park and it was someplace where he could gather his thoughts to piece together what was going on.
"I had the weirdest dreams. But if I wasn't actually here like you said, then maybe it wasn't a dream. I don't know..." Jack shrugged and walked back with Martha towards her car.
She grabbed his hand, not really wanting to take a chance of him disappearing. Over the last week or two people who had disappeared had been reported reappearing. It hadn't made any sense, and the wildest stories seemed to come of it. That being said, there had been a map made of all the occurrances, but now she wanted to know... no she had to know.
She didn't want to push but could tell that Jack was thinking about it hard. Keeping it in wouldn't do him any good. "Do you want t'talk about it?"
"Let's get out of here first and then I'll tell you about it," Jack promised. He opened the door and climbed into the passenger side. "Was I the only one from the team who was gone?" he asked in concern. "You're all okay, right?"
Martha climbed into the driver's seat and grabbed the keys from her pocket, turning the car on - putting her seatbelt on before slowly pulling out. "Me and Gwen are fine. We've been trying to keep up the search while you were gone..." Okay they'd been doing everything while he was gone. But the concern in his voice, she could hear something under it, something deeper.
God she'd missed him... Once they got back... well she had decided that she wasn't about to let him out of her sight any time soon. "We were fine, just worried sick," she reached over, and grabbed his hand giving it a squeeze, really all she could do while driving. Her eyes shown her own concern. And she knew the sooner they got back the sooner she could learn what had happened. "I missed you," she said it softly.
Jack held her hand, lacing his fingers with Martha's and giving them a squeeze in return. "I missed you too," he said, closing his eyes and resting as she drove.
Images from his 'dream' flashed through his memories. It all had felt so real. He knew it wasn't real... the fact that Alice had been a little girl again and was going by her birth name was proof enough for that.
It was relatively silent in the SUV on the trip back to the Hub. Admittedly Martha didn't really know what to think and she was rather eager for an explanation. It was something that only he could give. There was also the fact that she'd have to give him a once over. Despite being the man who couldn't die, she wasn't about to take any chances. They'd taken too many over the years already...
The park wasn't that far from the Hub, still it was dark by the time they'd gotten back. She pulled out the key and let them in through the visitor's center. The hub hadn't changed in the time he'd been gone. Everything was still the same. Except for the fact that she had a bag stashed in her locker. "Welcome home," she gave his hand a squeeze and waited for him to go inside first. She was hoping to gage his reaction...
Jack smiled warmly and walked in, looking around the Hub. For him, it felt like he was just here yesterday. But at the same time, there was the oddest sensation that he'd actually been gone for a very long time.
"It's good to be home," he replied, exhaling a breath as he shrugged off his greatcoat and began walking up towards his office.
Martha followed him, giving him some space. She knew that this had to be a bit of an adjustment... right? She didn't really know anything. She hadn't been through this. It was all him. Wherever he was, it had had an effect on him... Part of her knew that she should probably call Gwen and tell her that Jack had reappeared, but that would wait. There were other priorities at the moment.
Martha waited until he was upstairs before following suit. She entered the office and sat down on the corner of his desk, folding her hands over her upper thigh. She knew better than to push an issue like this. She had some files in there that she could read if he didn't feel like talking. But for now she just waited. Heroes had a tendency to speak in their own time...
Jack hung his coat up and glanced over at his desk, making mental notes about the various files and paperwork that was sitting there for him to look over. He didn't feel like working though. There were too many thoughts running through his head and he still felt more than a little confused.
"So... a month and a half, huh?" Jack moved to stand next to Martha and leaned against the desk. He looked down at the floor, then out the round window in his office.
"It's weird. I thought I'd just had a dream or something. Well, it turned into a nightmare. But if I was actually gone, then someone or something took me.
Nexus...
Jack blinked, looking over to Martha as he 'heard' the word in his mind. He rubbed his forehead and sighed. "The Nexus," he said, without really understanding how he even knew that. "I think that's what it was called. I don't know."
"Yeah, you had us worried," the last time Jack had gone and run off (or so the files said) had been when they'd been involved with the Master's plot in the Year that Wasn't. There were files - those still remaining mentioned his absence and the unending questions of where he'd gone.
"The Nexus?" She paused thinking before shaking her head negative. She'd never heard of that before. "We could check the files," she offered. "See if there's something about it in there?" She was a bit at a loss. A dream that became a nightmare... He seemed rather worn out. And tense. There wasn't really anything to be done about the first, but the second... "Jack why don't you sit down," she offered. She could work on his shoulders better that way.
Jack nodded and began climbing down the ladder to his quarters. He sat on the edge of the bed, removed his boots and socks, then lowered his braces so he could strip off his shirts. At least if they talked down here, they wouldn't interrupt and could just relax.
"When I was there, I could sort of feel that things weren't quite right. Things were... different. At first though, it was sort of like wherever I had been brought to was trying to give me a perfect life," he tried to explain.
Climbing down after him, Martha situated herself at the back of the bed, on her knees so she was sitting a bit taller than him. She waited for him to take off his braces and shirts before her hands went to his shoulders. With any luck this would help. She could feel the tension being held in his shoulders and neck.
"Was it much different from the way things are now?" It was a legitimate question. And then, well... he'd said it had turned into a nightmare. Given everything that Jack had seen over his life she had several different thoughts as to what would count as a nightmare...
"Completely different. Owen and Tosh were still alive... and dating." Jack closed his eyes and let his head loll forward.
"I knew it couldn't be real because of my personal situation in what world. Melissa was living with me." He paused, not saying anything at first. But he knew he'd have to explain to Martha.
"I have a daughter," he whispered. "She's an adult though. But in that world, she was still a little girl and living with me. That never happened."
Their family members being alive was one thing, but this Melissa was another. While the thought of Owen and Tosh caused Martha's heart to drop a bit - just thinking about the what ifs, this new information came as a bit of a surprise. Although not a huge one.
Privately Martha had always thought that Jack would make a wonderful father, and given how old he actually was, there was more than a slight chance that it might have been a reality. In fact she had almost been certain that he had to be at some point, but there had never been confirmation. She didn't stop massaging his shoulders put hugged him for a moment from behind. This seemed to be a hard topic for him... "But it did there," she prompted softly. And whatever had happened in there, it had been real to him, for as long as it had gone on... right. "What was it like?" She figured the more he shared of this the better it would feel. At least she hoped.
Still... Martha now had to wonder what had happened to his daughter. If she was an adult... did she have his last name?
"It was... amazing," he admitted. "Everything there just felt... I don't know. It's difficult to explain. I had an actual home where I was raising my daughter. I was still me, immortality and all. But I had a normal life too with an actual family. You were living with us and near the end before everything turned into a nightmare, we were engaged."
Jack fell silent for a long moment. "No one else on the team knows I even have a kid," he told her softly. "Her mother worked for Torchwood and went underground with our daughter to keep her away from me for her safety. Or at least, that's what she told me. She changed her name too. But in the Nexus, she was still Melissa."
If it had been like a dream, something that Jack himself had described it as, she could only imagine what that meant. "Its something you've always wanted," she said with a small smile - referring to the house and the kid and the normal family life. "And this ... nexus let you have it." It was a good summary. She smiled a bit when he said they were engaged. "Sounds like it was nearly perfect."
She really was curious as to what had happened. Honestly it sounded like something a person could get addicted to. It wouldn't be the first time they'd seen an alien construct that fed on human emotions and upon its separation caused withdrawl... but this sounded like more than that... After all he'd disappeared. Along with thousands of other people.
Martha listened, rather surprised as Jack told her about Melissa. His daughter. And what her mother had done. Truthfully she could see the logic in the actions, but it seemed cruel at the same time. To forcibly keep a parent away from their child, not even to have visitation - for a man like Jack - that had to have hurt more than anything. Yes he could smile and laugh off just about everything that came his way, but something like that, it would say, and it would linger.
Martha wrapped her arms around him tighter, squeezing him gently. "I won't tell anyone," she promised, but he would have known that already. She'd never betray his confidence. Ever. She waited for him to continue, part of her wondering if he'd ever tried to contact her once she reached maturity... on the other hand how would a child react to knowing that their parent would never be older than they. She had many questions now, but this wasn't the time for her to do the talking.
"Yeah, it is. I wasn't allowed to raise her, or to even really be around much while she was growing up. And then when she grew up and had a kid of her own, she continued with it. I barely see them. Once in a while, Alice lets me come over and Steven gets to see his 'Uncle Jack'," he said bitterly.
"I always tried to convince myself that it was for the best. That way, it wouldn't hurt as much. But that place picked up on it anyways and gave me something I'd always longed for. I don't even know how long I was really there for. It felt like years, so I don't think time was running the same in that place."
The bitterness just confirmed what Martha had assumed before. It killed him. It really killed him to have this separation between himself and his own flesh and blood. And whether it had been learned or something that had happened, Martha got the feeling this was one of his biggest regrets.
"So you got to see her grow up a bit." She had to smile at that. She couldn't imagine having a child of her own and not be allowed to see them. She moved from behind him, settling in next to him, wrapping her arms back around him, trying to comfort him a bit. Whatever this Nexus was it did get into your subconscious... and that was a scary thought. "So you had everything you wanted." She smiled at that. If it was one thing she wanted for him, it was for him to be happy. He took so much on himself that often she wondered if he remembered the simpler things. She knew she forgot much of the time (one reason her mother was insisting she come with the family to the beach later this summer.) However... if this dream had turned into a nightmare. She was hoping that nothing had happened to the child.
"A little, yeah. And I actually felt like a real dad instead of the guy who writes checks to make sure she always has enough money and doesn't want for anything. It's not the same though and even that took a lot of convincing to get her to accept."
Jack wrapped his arms around Martha and kissed the top of her head, holding her close. "Everything was perfect. And then the next thing I know, Ianto was on a killing spree and everyone was dead in the Hub. The last thing I can remember before coming back here was lying there dying, unable to move... and then him shooting the two of you."
Now that caught her offguard. There was no way she could have been prepared for that. She knew Ianto. He never would have done anything like that. Especially not to a child. But it was clear that this was the nightmare part. Everyone you care about dying by the hand of another loved one. It was anyone's nightmare, but especially Jack. In some ways he was like the doctor - so many loved ones lost, you really held on to those you had.
Martha closed her eyes, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly. That must have been hell. And that had been the last thing that happened before she'd found him. Her and his daughter being shot by Ianto. She didn't exactly know what to say. Part of it she wanted to be real - for him - the part where he had his daughter, but the rest... "He'd never do that," she said softly. She knew that Jack knew that. "And I'm not going anywhere." That was a promise. To have had everything and then in a moment have it stripped away...
"I know he wouldn't have. That's another way that I knew it wasn't real. I don't know if my rejection of the nightmare Nexus is what snapped me out of that place, or if my time was up, or something else. I don't know and I don't care. I'm home now."
Jack rested his head against hers and closed his eyes. Ianto was gone anyways... taken by the Rift and sent to who knows where. All that was left now of Torchwood was Jack, Martha, and Gwen.
Still holding onto her hand, Jack stretched out on the bed and gently tugged her down alongside of him. "Thanks... for coming to get me earlier."