Despite Sasha's constant reminders that recovering from death was no small feat, even for one as experienced at it as Jack, the Captain refused to remain lying down until Ben finally offered to look through the debris for them.
"We need to salvage any working computer parts first," Sasha stated. Her practicality was why Jack had hired her as his second in command, but at the moment, he could care less if the world's fate depended on him being practical.
"I can do both, Sash," Ben said. He surveyed the charred and now thoroughly drenched remains of what was once the Hub with a somewhat skeptical eye. "I don't think there's much to get anyway. Computer parts, I mean," he added quickly when he saw fear and stubbornness surge up in Jack's eyes again. The tech picked his way toward the area that had once been Jack's office. Ten minutes later, he came back holding the small tin box. Jack's breathing stopped for the second time in the space of an hour as he saw the state of it. It was obvious that the fire had half melted the container, reaching the contents inside of it. Water spilled out as Ben pried the twisted lid off.
Looking in, Jack let out a small sigh of relief. Some of the photos were burned at the corners and most of them were wetly sticking to each other. But they were all still more or less whole and remarkably undamaged considering.
"Here," Ben offered, pulling over a metal grate that was probably once a part of their coolant system. "You can lay them out on this."
With great care, Jack gently pulled apart the photos to place them to dry. Estelle, slightly burnt now around the edges peered up at him as he laid her out. The emulsion was dangerously slick and one wrong finger swipe could remove her young face all together. But even so, her smile looked as real and as present as ever.
"You really are ridiculous, Jack. You need to be more careful."
"It's not like it cost me anything," Jack murmured. He lightly touched the edges of the photo, careful to avoid pressing down on it too much.
"Just because you can't die doesn't mean you don't."
And he had. More specifically, he'd drowned when Sasha had been forced to open the pipes to flood the Hub to stop the fire when Jack had still been inside of it. But a little death seemed like nothing when he'd thought about what he could lose to the inferno. "I couldn't just leave you all," he said. Estelle's image didn't change, but somehow the smile seemed to look a little more exasperated.
"My hero."
Jack grinned.
"My brave, stupid hero."
"Hey!"
"Anyone who runs into a burning building earns the term stupid in my books. What were you thinking?"
"He enjoys showing off."
The picture of Ianto was spared from any fire damage, though the photo had gotten creased and drenched enough that white lines cut through the color image. But it was still whole and Jack could still make out the somewhat annoyed look that had been on Ianto's face when he'd snuck up on him to take the photo.
"I don't show off," Jack said to him. "I'm just naturally impressive."
There was no actual eye roll, but Jack saw it clearly in his mind's eye anyway.
"The years have been kind to your modesty, I see."
Jack's eyes shadowed. The years hadn't been kind to him in any other respect. He'd gotten himself killed to try and rescue these images. Now, all laid out before him, they looked so much more fragile, like the people they represented. Estelle's youthful grin faded from his eyes to be replaced with his last memory of her, cold, white and old. He could see the gun pressed against Ianto's already bleeding temple and the look in his eyes just before-
"Ja-ack," Ianto's voice drawled reprovingly, cutting in on the memories.
"Sorry," Jack replied, running a hand over his face. "I just…"
"Have a coffee and warm up," Ianto advised. "Hub's a mess and clean up will need your help."
"Not that he even picks up his socks," said Estelle with great fondness. "Considers himself dashing and he can't even do that."
Jack chuckled. "You guys wouldn't have me any other way."
"True."
"Very true."
THE END