A sort-of-seasonal tale to start of another collection of short stories ...
Mari and Joe
On a cold afternoon in late January, Ianto was in the back room making himself a coffee when the Tourist Office door opened. Expecting Gwen, he called out, "Just a minute." With his newly-made coffee in hand, he lifted the bead curtain with a smile for the newcomer.
It was not Gwen.
A young woman, probably a teenager, stood at the counter. She was wearing a dark woollen coat with a bright red scarf at the throat and her hair was straggly and wet from the sleet that had been sweeping across Cardiff all day. Her face was thin with a pointed nose and slit of a mouth but her eyes were wide and a deep green; definitely her most attractive feature. However, even as Ianto took all this in, his attention was focussed on the baby carrier – the ones that double as car seats – on the counter and the blue-bonneted head just visible through the waterproof cover.
"Hello," he said. "Can I help you?"
"I hope so." The woman's voice was softer and more hesitant than he had expected. The accent also gave her away as a Cardiff lass. "I'm looking for Captain Jack Harkness." She smiled tentatively and bit her lip at the same time.
"Ahh …" Ianto was at a loss for words. Normally he would have immediately denied Jack's presence but this woman – and her baby! – was a puzzle he wanted explained. "He's just stepped out … but I could call him for you. He's not far away." He picked up his mobile which was lying on the counter next to his mug of coffee. "Who shall I say it is?"
"Mari. Mari Probert. He'll remember me!" The last came with a small nervous laugh.
"I expect he will," murmured Ianto, speed dialling Jack. "Captain, there's a visitor to see you. Mari Probert." He paused deliberately before adding, "And baby."
"Who?" said Jack doubtfully, thinking hard. Then he remembered, it had been just before Christmas. "Oh great! I'll be right there. Through the public door."
Putting down his phone, Ianto smiled at the woman. "He's on his way. Would you like a coffee?"
"Thanks, if it's not any trouble."
Ianto left Mari fussing over the sleeping baby to make the coffee, grateful for the excuse to get away. He wondered what story – event? - lay behind the appearance of the woman and her baby. Various possibilities sprang to mind – from the obvious to the preposterous – and he expected the truth would be nearer the latter than the former. After all, Jack was involved.
Grabbing his greatcoat, Jack ran through the Hub and onto the invisible lift. Much better to arrive through the public Tourist Office door even if it did mean him going out in the sleet and cold. As he rode up on the lift, his mind went back a few weeks, to late December …
-ooOoo-
Cardiff looked like a traditional Christmas card. Snow had been falling gently for a few hours and coated the roofs, trees, roads and paths. The commuters had left their offices and headed home – a lot of them earlier than usual – and the snow had covered the tyre tracks leaving a pristine whiteness everywhere. Children, now warm inside their homes, had left a lopsided snowman on a wide verge, its smile faintly sinister in the orange glow of the street lights.
Jack Harkness smiled as he walked slowly through this wonderland, snowflakes falling on his uncovered head and greatcoat-clad shoulders, singing quietly to himself. "Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let Earth receive her king, let every … dum de dum de dum. Dum dum de dum de dum … and heaven and dum dum dum, dum –" His singing, now more humming as he had forgotten the words, slowed as a patch of darkness caught his eye. " – dum … de dum …"
Something brown showed stark against the snow in a corner of the school grounds where a wall created some shelter. Narrowing his eyes, Jack studied it and had concluded it was a pile of rubbish when it moved sufficiently to dislodge some of the light snow that had gathered on it. With a sigh, he left the pavement and went through the unlocked gate. This could be a Weevil – the shape was about the right size for an adolescent; Ianto would have to wait a bit longer.
Nearing the shape Jack sniffed, expecting the musty scent of a Weevil but instead smelt unmistakable humanity; one of the homeless who hadn't made it to a hostel, he assumed. He put out a hand and gently shook the highest point of the shape, now liberally covered with the snow which was still falling. The reaction was immediate. A head shot up from the folds of a large-collared coat, swathed in a lumpy, hand-knitted scarf.
"Get away from me! Leave me alone!" The accent was female and Welsh, the tone strident with fear under the surface anger.
"Okay." He stood up and put his hands in his pockets. "Soon as I know what you're doing here." She had obviously not been on the streets for long – she was far too clean – and he wondered what she was doing here when she should be with family and friends getting ready for the holidays. He waited but she made no reply, merely glared at him showing brilliant green eyes. Jack was reminded of a cornered cat. As the seconds turned to minutes, he began to hum again. "Dum dum de dum, dum dum dum dum –"
"Go away!" When he didn't respond or move she added, "What are you, some kind of pervert!"
"Captain Jack Harkness," he said with a smile. "You?"
"None of your business!"
With a deep sigh, Jack crouched down in front of her. "No problem. I don't need to know your name. But understand, I'm not leaving you here in this weather. So, either you can allow me to take you home or - " He stopped when she burst into tears, all her false bravado disappearing in an instant. "Come here, it can't be that bad. Not when you've got me to help." He gathered her in his arms and held her as she continued to sob.
With a hiccup, the girl moved away from Jack yet still stayed within his arms. "I haven't got a home. Not any more." She wiped her nose on a woolly mitten.
"Take this." He fished out a handkerchief which was still reasonably clean and handed it to her. "Had a row, have you? I'm sure it can be fixed if –"
"No it can't!" she protested, moving further back into her corner. "Not with this." She pointed to her swollen belly, evidence of the later stages of pregnancy. "They won't have me back." Tears flowed again and she wiped at her eyes impatiently.
"Your parents?" Jack cleared a little of the snow away from the ground beside her and sat down. Now his eyes had adjusted to the limited light, he realised she was young - late teens probably – and ill-dressed for the weather. A bag, about the same size as allowed as hand baggage on an aeroplane, was the only sign she had made any preparation for her current predicament.
She sniffed and nodded. "My Da. Said I was a whore and had to get out of his house."
"Why now? You're pretty far along." He judged her to be six or seven months pregnant but with her small bones and frame she might have been able to hide it under loose sweaters pretty well.
"He only just found out." Her voice was soft and he strained to hear her. "Wouldn't listen to me."
"I will. Tell me all about it." His tone was persuasive and, with an arm round her shoulders, he listened as she poured out her story, a very familiar one.
Her name was Mari Probert and she was just turned seventeen. She worked as a hairdresser in a local salon and had been with her boyfriend, Joe, a chippy, for three years. They had discovered she was pregnant but kept it from both their families for fear of what they would say; Mari had been determined from the start to keep her baby and feared being talked out of her decision. Three months into the pregnancy, Joe had got a job in Bristol for the extra money which would ensure that, when the time came, they would have enough between them to rent somewhere of their own.
"And now it's all gone wrong," she concluded, dry-eyed once more as her fingers fiddled with the handkerchief ceaselessly. "I've messed everything up. I only had to keep it hidden a few more weeks."
Jack was touched by her story; no matter how many times he heard similar tales, each one had its own poignancy. He thought of his own daughter, Alice, raising her child alone now her husband had left her. It was always the women who were left to manage as best they could. "Have you told Joe what's happened?" She shook her head. "Why not?"
"Battery's dead." As evidence of this, she held up a mobile that had seen better days. "Anyway, I can't go to him. He's in a squat. Saves money that way."
"I still think you should tell him. You think he'd want you sleeping on the streets?"
"No, but what can he do?" Her watery green eyes focussed on him, despair all to clear in their depths.
"Not a lot, maybe. Tell you what, let's get you sorted out then you can recharge the phone and give him a call." He eased stiff legs and stood up, putting a hand under her elbow to help her up too.
"What do you mean?" She was wary again, defensive almost. "I don't know you. I'm not going anywhere with you!"
Lying with practiced ease, Jack said, "I know people in social services and can get you into a hostel. It won't be fancy but it'll be a roof over your head, and warm. You can stay there until you and Joe can work out what to do."
She pulled away from him. "Don't want no do-gooders getting involved. They'll take my baby away!"
"They won't. I won't let them." He saw she was unconvinced so added, "I promise, Mari. They're scared of me."
This brought a smile to her face. He had shown her nothing but kindness and she didn't think he'd be very scary. But he was a stranger, should she trust him? It was difficult to decide. She couldn't go home and had no friends or relatives able to take her in. She was still trying to decide when he spoke again.
"Think of the baby, Mari," Jack said, playing his trump card. "You need to look after yourself so your baby - Joe's baby - will be safe. If you don't like the hostel you can move on whenever you like. No strings."
Jack watched as she silently debated this and knew that he had won the argument. Gently taking her arm, he picked up her bag and helped her along the snowy path ...
-ooOoo-
Jack smiled as he strode along the boardwalk towards the Tourist Office. Mari had stayed at the hostel until after the birth of the baby when she and Joe moved into a tiny flat in Splott. Jack had not kept track of them, too busy with various aliens, and had only learnt this much when talking to the hostel manager about another waif and stray. He had, however, done a background check on them both and so recognised Joe who was walking in the same direction as him.
"Joe? Joe Carson?" he said coming alongside him. "Yes, thought it was. Captain Jack Harkness."
"Captain Harkness?" The man, just in his twenties and looking younger, was startled but seemed pleased to meet Jack. "The one who helped Mari?"
"The one and only. Don't think the universe could cope with more than one of me!" He clapped the man on the shoulder. "Good to meet you. You coming to meet up with Mari?"
"Yes. She wanted to bring the baby to see you, so we could both thank you." The man smiled shyly.
"Hey, it was nothing," said Jack with a dismissive wave of one hand. "I'd like to see the little tyke. Is it a boy or a girl?" He opened the Tourist Office door and ushered Joe in ahead of him.
"Boy," said Joe proudly. "Born on Christmas Day, he was."
"Fantastic, a Christmas baby." Shutting the door, Jack smiled broadly at Mari who had turned to smile at both new arrivals. "My, just look at you! You're looking great." Jack enveloped her in a hug and kissed her cheek. "And this must be your little boy." He peered into the baby carrier and smiled at the small scrap of humanity lying there. "Now that's a fine looking lad."
"He is, isn't he?" Mari stood close by, holding hands with Joe who was standing protectively and proudly behind her. "I hope you don't mind, but we called him Jack, after you."
"Mind! I'm honoured." He beamed at them both. "Now tell me all your news. Got a place to live?"
Keeping to the background, Ianto watched and listened as Mari and Joe related their current situation – still living in Splott but with plans to move to a larger place in a month or so. Joe was working hard and Mari did a couple of days a week hairdressing while his mother looked after little Jack. The pair had not been reconciled with her parents although her mother had seen the baby a couple of times. After half an hour, during which Jack held his namesake, the family departed.
Ianto, who had pieced together the whole story from chatting with Mari, regarded Jack, one eyebrow raised. "Why didn't you tell me about helping her?"
Jack regarded Ianto pointedly. "I did. You told me I was making it up."
"When? Oh," he went on immediately as the memory returned, "yes, I remember. Sorry, but you must admit it was a bit unlikely. Finding a pregnant 'Mary' looking for a place to stay at Christmas?"
"Should still have believed me." Jack followed as Ianto packed up his papers, opened the secret door and stepped through into the corridor. "You hurt my feelings." This last was said in mock-pain.
Ianto laughed. "I said I was sorry. And I'm proud of you, it was a good thing you did." They were in the lift now, heading down into the Hub.
"How proud? Enough to give me a reward?" It was impossible to miss the implication in Jack's tone as he wrapped his arms round the Welshman.
"Helping Mari should be reward enough." Ianto pushed Jack away, well-used to fending him off. "And having the baby named after you."
"That was nice, wasn't it?" Jack grinned, a pace or two behind Ianto as they went through the cog door. "But I still think I deserve a proper apology from you. There's no one here to disturb us."
Jack continued to wheedle and plead until Ianto could stand no more and gave the older man what he wanted, a very special late Christmas present: himself in the bunker under the office.
Merry Christmas! I plan to post more short stories here as they occur to me. Look out for them - Jay
