Jack? Jack!
Toshiko?
Gwen, get Owen. Jack, can you hear me?
What's going on?
Help me move him. Jack, can you hear us?
Gwen? What's going on?
Not quite sure. Where were you?
Checking out rift activity at a warehouse down town.
I've got the address.
Ianto.
I'm going.
Gwen?
Yes, Jack?
Can you hear me?
Yes, Jack. You're talking a bit slow, but we can hear you just fine.
I can't.
You can't hear?
Owen?
Bit busy at the moment. Just answer me, thank you. You can't hear? Can you see?
No.
Anything?
There's too much light.
Can you feel anything? What about that?
What?
Or that?
What are you doing?
Nothing permanent.
Jack?
Yes.
If you can't hear, how do you know what we're saying?
I just know. It's inside my head but it's not coming from anywhere.
Jack? You need to focus, Jack. Stay here. Don't drift off.
I'll come back, Gwen. I always come back.
Not this time. Not if you don't stay here with us. Talk to me, Jack, tell me a story.
A story?
Any story.
I don't know any stories.
Oh, come on. You must know a million stories.
You sound scared, Gwen. Are you scared?
Tell me a story, Jack.
I used to travel with some friends.
What sort of traveling?
All sorts. My friends…my friends…
What were their names?
It's cold.
Never mind that. What were their names?
He didn't have a name. Well, he did, but he didn't. Or it didn't matter…or something. He was…
What did he look like, Jack?
He looked like…he was…he was and then…he was and then he wasn't.
Owen, he's not making sense.
I'm working as fast as I can. Where the hell is Ianto?
I've got him on the CCTV. He's nearly there.
But he was. He was and then he wasn't. He changed, but it was still him, still fast and brilliant and beautiful.
Sounds like you were sweet on him.
Everyone was sweet on him.
Sly dog.
It wasn't like that. He was lonely. He was…just holding his hand made your whole body flush, I can't imagine…okay maybe I can.
There's the Jack we know.
It's cold, Gwen.
Don't think about that.
He could warm me up with a touch. I wish he was here. I want him here. I want
The Doctor.
Owen is a doctor, Jack.
Someone tell Ianto to hurry up.
He's moving as fast as he can.
No. I want…
Tell me more about your friend.
He smelled like when the air dances and is thick with rain and there's lightening far off. The big ones they get in America in the summertime, when it's hot and dry and then its hot and wet and electric.
He smelled like a storm?
He smelled like when it was going to storm.
Did you fuck him?
Owen!
If Jack Harkness won't talk about sex we've got no hope at all. Did you fuck him Jack?
Not exactly.
Wouldn't have you, eh? Fuck! It got away. Gwen, here, hold this. Here. No, here! Don't move. Was he too good for you or was he just straight?
Too good for me. Far too good for me. Too hot. Too old. Like looking into the sun. I think he would have killed me. He would touch me sometimes, just my arms or my neck or shoulders. I thought my skin would blister off. He'd sit behind me and all I would feel was the shape of him under his clothes and his hands on my skin but that was okay because just the weight of the air was enough to make all my nerves sing. I'd just grab wherever I could and shake and shake until I couldn't breath.
Owen?
Right, sorry.
Sounds like a hell of a guy.
You'd like him, Gwen.
What about me?
You'd hate him.
I've got it, but I can't remove it until Ianto severs the link.
He's there.
Ianto.
Jack?
Tell Ianto…
Jack stay here. Right here. Listen to my voice.
Tell Ianto, I…
-
All the air rushed back into Jack's lungs a split second before sight and sound and the worst headache of his life. He gasped it all in, his muscling tensing under the onslaught of heartbeat and simple respiration. Something in his head pulled and he could feel an awful squirming feeling run along his cheek and out of his ear.
"I've got it!" Owen's voice was clear and loud at his right.
Jack sat up, looking wildly around.
Gwen and Owen were triumphant, wide grins on each of their faces. He could hear Toshiko reassuring Ianto over the phone.
"Everything's fine. He's fine. You did it."
"I…" he began. There was a desperate gnawing feeling in his stomach.
"You should probably lie down for a while," Owen said. "It was an alien parasite. Nasty thing. Ianto had to go kill the hive mind or parasite queen or what ever."
"I…" He swallowed hard, closing his eyes and curling his fists. When he opened his eyes again, Gwen's concern was evident and Owen was starting to get angry.
"Jack, what's wrong?" Gwen asked.
"I didn't say anything."
Owen scoffed. "What?"
Jack dug deep and found his command voice. "I didn't say anything."
"Course not," Gwen said immediately. "Not a word."
Jack nodded.
Owen nodded.
Jack lay back down.
"Not a word," Owen said. "Certainly nothing about guys smelling like storms."
-