Disclaimer: Torchwood not mine
AN: It strikes me as odd that no one questioned him. Well, after Gwen that is.
At first he only catches scattered whispers of conversation, stopped before he gets close enough to really tell what they're saying. But he's not that stupid; he's been around long enough to know when he's being watched and discussed, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's on their minds.
He lets it go for the first few weeks, hoping they might tire of it and return to the "well if he wants to keep secrets, then fine" attitude that did them all quite well before he disappeared into thin air.
But they aren't letting him get away with it this time. He's been gone for at least a few weeks (date wise) and over a year (living wise) and they're his team and he owes them something. But it's not his way to stand up and announce his personal details (he's too much like the Doctor in that respect, and Jack knows full well that comes more from the number of times he's been bitten then just age), and if they want to know then they'd better work up the courage to ask.
Surprisingly it's Tosh and not Owen that blurts it out after one glance too many. It's a quiet day at the Hub and they're all at their desks remembering why they hate paperwork so much, when Jack walks by on his way to Gwen's desk.
"Was it the Doctor?"
The look on her face is part curious and part horrified, because of them all, Tosh questions less than Ianto these days.
Jack has stopped dead in front of the couch and he knows full well that they're all staring at him. But whereas Tosh wants an answer to a question she understands, the others are just looking bewildered.
Jack sighs.
"Yes." He pauses, waits to see what Tosh is going to do with that.
"Did you want to go?" Ianto asks, and Jack knows that that's really the ultimate question they want the answer to. Did he abandon them of his own free will?
"Yes. I'd been waiting for so long; I had to." Tosh gives a little nod and Ianto's looking at him with a growing level of understanding in his eyes about why Jack left and moreover why he came back.
"I'm sorry, but what the hell are you talking about?" He'd forgotten about Owen.
And Jack sighs again, because there's really no easy answer to all of this except to start at the beginning. And the beginning is something he's buried deep in Torchwood's records so that errant employees wouldn't get the wrong idea about why Torchwood 3 exists.
"Sit," he says, and for once they all scramble to do just that. He's standing at the entrance to the autopsy room, hands in his pockets, looking contemplative.
The silence stretches.
"Well?" Owen finally asks, in that annoyed voice he gets when the rest of the world doesn't move at the same speed he does.
"Honestly? Not sure where to start. I mean, the beginning sounds great, but it's not really that important to understanding the end. But I suppose…"
Another minute stretches and just when it looks like Owen's going to get huffy he finally comes up with what he wants to say.
"Torchwood was founded in 1879 by Queen Victoria to investigate and control alien activity within the British Empire." They nod; they know this. "But that's not the whole truth. The original Torchwood charter states that the reason it was founded in 1879 was because Queen Victoria had a particularly unpleasant evening in the Torchwood House in Scotland that year wherein she encountered a werewolf and was saved by the efforts of someone called the Doctor. Unfortunately, old Queenie wasn't too fond of having her life threatened or really anything that didn't fit into her world view, and so after the Doctor saved her life she exiled him from Britain and made sure that the charter for the institute she set up warned about any future encounters Torchwood might have with him. Basically they named him public enemy number one. A few years ago," his breath hitches ever so slightly and he glances at Ianto, "at Canary Wharf Torchwood 1 captured the Doctor. Of course, he ended up saving everyone from the Daleks and the Cybermen that day, and Torchwood 1 was destroyed along with most of its records. When I started Torchwood 3 I did it in memory of those that lost their lives that day, and for the Doctor who saved the ones he could. I buried any record that mentioned him in the secure files which you all know only I have access to. I didn't want anyone getting any ideas about what we do. 'If it's alien, it's ours' went out with Yvonne. We do what we do to make the world a safer place."
"I met him, years ago. You remember that first spaceship that crashed into the Thames? The body they found; I was the one that examined it, but it was nothing. At least, it wasn't an alien. But the Doctor was there that day. I think he saved us all."
Jack looks slightly pityingly at Tosh. "He did. He always does. I used to travel with him, back in the day. A very, very long time ago. But it can't have been much after you met him Tosh. I didn't stay…" and there is something in his eyes that tells all of them he was lying "but it was after I left him that I found out about, well, my lack of dying problem. I figured he was the only one that could help, so I waited."
"That day you disappeared; he came back?" Gwen asks.
"Yeah, and I'm sorry I bailed on you guys, but there wasn't exactly time to explain. Didn't want him leaving without me."
"But he couldn't help you." I isn't a question.
"No. Said I was an 'impossible thing'," he smiles, eyes shining. "Well, I am that." He winks at Gwen, but she only frowns back.
"Honestly, I came back as soon as I could. Got a bit mixed up in some things, and had to sort them before I could return." No one bothers to ask why he couldn't have called and told them that.
"I saw him, once, at Canary Wharf." Ianto is staring at the water tower. "Just after he arrived. Miss Hartman was so excited. But he just…he just looked so normal. Like any other bloke, and it seemed stupid to think of him as the enemy. It didn't look like he could harm a kitten, or would. There was a woman with him; short, blond, awful taste in clothes. I think she was more annoyed about being captured than he was." He trails off. "Sorry."
"Was she young?" Jack asks suddenly.
"No, no she looked about forty. Not young at all."
Jack looks thoughtful. "Jackie Tyler. That was Jackie Tyler. I wonder where Rose was? Though, it hardly matters."
Ianto looks at him questioningly.
"They both died. Rose and her mom Jackie. They were both killed at Canary Wharf." He makes sure not to let slip that is a lie. Besides, how to explain the truth?
Ianto nods in understanding.
"I'm sorry, care to share with the rest of the class?" Owen is not gaining points today.
"Rose Tyler, she used to travel with the Doctor, back when I first met him. Never did figure out what her mother was doing there that day. Well," Jack draws himself up and takes his hands out of his pockets. "Enough of that. Back to work."
"But Jack," Gwen starts in. "You didn't tell us who the Doctor is. I mean, where's he from?"
Jack turns back to look right at her. "Nowhere. Everywhere. He just…is. Shows up when he's needed, never sticks around long. It's just his way."
"Maybe I should have asked what is he?"
"Sorry, Gwen. That's not for me to tell. If you meet him one day, you can ask him yourself. Probably won't get an answer though. He's like that. Talks about himself even less than I do."
"That's hard to believe," Owen mutters.
"Well, twenty questions, and thirty answers is over for today kids. Satisfied?"
Tosh and Ianto nod. Gwen smiles; Owen just continues to look annoyed. Well, can hardly please everyone, could he? Well…
He returns to his desk, fingers playing over his wrist computer.
"Sir?" Ianto appears in the doorway.
"Yes?"
"When he comes back, are you going to go with him again?"
Jack smiles. "Nope. I think I'm firmly Doctor-travelled out. I'm not going to vanish again, Ianto, I promise."
He smiles back. "Very good, sir. Coffee?"
"Love one."