A/N:This'll be short like My Darlin' Rosaline, I'd say six chapter at most. Though, saying that, be assured there'll probably be a massive plot twist somewhere along the way knowing me that'll take another twenty chapters to sort out. Oh and by the way, apologies for the out-of-characterness of the TW crew, it's been a while since I watched a full ep so I'll watch one later, reflect on this chapter and groan loudly :D
Chapter 2 – Jack's Investigative 'N Detective Agency
"Why aren't you regeneratin'?" Rose Tyler was asking the Doctor's dead body for the twenty-third time that minute. "Regenerate. Please. Regenerate."
She had seen so much death, so much disaster and so many people losing their loved ones to forces they couldn't control. She had always felt the emotions of a death, comforting the grievers before she and the Doctor had moved on. She had learnt to accept it.
But she couldn't accept this.
Here he was, her Doctor lying dead in a hospital morgue, pale and rigid. She hadn't moved from his side for a few hours now, stroking back his hair as if it would somehow help the regenerative process. He wasn't dead. He could never be dead. Although his skin was pale and his eyes were white, he didn't smell like a dead person and though it wasn't exactly evidence in court, she could feel he wasn't dead.
But his hearts had stopped beating. His lungs had stopped taking in air. His brain stopped processing a million thoughts a minute, and now he was dead.
They'd probably found out his alienality by now, but she didn't care. She was going to stay with him until he regenerated. Maybe it was the air. Maybe it was his surroundings. Maybe it was something on the bullets.
"Rose?"
She jumped at the voice, whirling around to see an extremely familiar person leaning casually in the doorway.
"J-Jack," she stuttered, clearly confused. "Why…?"
"Torchwood," he answered simply, moving closer to her and the dead Doctor. "We investigate alien lifeforms, and we were called by the hospital doctors on this."
He stopped by the table, for once a solemn-looking expression on his handsome facial features. "I knew it was him straight away. Two hearts is a bit of a giveaway."
"He'll come back. Just wait. He still has three bodies left…he'll come back. I know he will."
The man on the table didn't look at all like the Doctor to Jack. He must have died and changed before with Rose, and now he was dead again. Shot in the back. The assailant must've had no shame.
"Listen Rose…" He rested a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "We're gonna take him out of here and go back to Cardiff; Owen's gonna work his magic and we're gonna find out exactly what happened to him. Maybe we can get him to regenerate."
There was a momentary pause before Rose nodded, and allowed herself to be taken away from the Doctor and be led out the door.
"It's Owen Harper stepping up to take the shot, probably the most talented player to set foot on the court since Michael Jordan himself – this is the moment of glory, the do or die, the all or nothing…the crowd are eagerly awaiting in immense anticipation…"
Owen cast an eye around the Torchwood base: Toshiko staring unblinkingly at one of her eight different monitors, Gwen nattering on the phone to Jack in her vibrant Welsh accent and Ianto staring at a wall over the far side.
"Well…" he muttered, "…ish." He looked back to the small basketball hoop fixed in place above the bin, scrunching up the ball paper he held even further. "He takes aim…" he squinted for precision, his hand bouncing back and forth as though it were on elastic. "And he…SHOOTS!" He released the paper ball from his grip, which flew through the air almost in slow motion, hitting the rim of the mini basketball net and rolling around like water spiralling down a plughole, until it finally dropped down through the net. "HE SCOOOORES!"
Owen bounded onto his feet, punching the air in true triumph as the paper ball hit the base of the bin, doing the winning dance. He pivoted on the spot, trying to do 360 degrees only to manage 180 degrees instead, coming face to face with Gwen Cooper, arms folded but with a grin on her face.
"Jack says to get out your autopsy equipment," she said to the basketball hero. "He's coming back."
Owen sighed dramatically, turning on his heel to go to the medical room.
"Did our mighty esteemed leader tell us why?" he asked vaguely from halfway across the room.
"Maybe he wants to have dinner!" Gwen said sarcastically in a cheery voice, watching Owen as he looked back over his shoulder at Gwen, a fake half smile appearing on his features.
"Har, har," he said; all amusement vanished.
"He says he's arriving by helicopter in about ten minutes."
Owen turned, and disappeared down the ramp.
Ten minutes later Jack lifted a blue plastic sheet and let it drop to the floor, revealing a long, black, zipped up body bag. The entire Torchwood team watched in anticipation as a pretty young blonde girl took place beside Jack, far too distraught to bother to introduce herself though she seemed pretty acquainted with Jack.
Jack reached slowly up to the zip on the body bag, drawing it down to reveal first of all wild brown hair, then the hint of pale white skin of a forehead. Gwen Cooper winced as closed eyes were revealed, followed by a nose, then a mouth. She could see how much of a pretty boy he was, even though he was now looking very much dead.
Soon the body bag was totally unzipped, revealing the Doctor dressed only in plain white t-shirt and trousers to the world. Owen was confused.
"You want me to do an alien autopsy on a human?" he questioned Jack, who was now trying to comfort the emotional Rose, distressed at the sight of the body lying infront of her.
"He's not human," Jack supplied simply in-between whispers of comfort to Rose. "And yes, you're gonna do an autopsy. His species is supposed to regenerate when they die but for some reason he hasn't – which means there's somethin' stopping it."
Without another word he suddenly turned from Rose and the Torchwood crowd, reaching down to a metal suitcase set on the floor at his feet and pulling it up. He laid it down on the table to his right, pushing in the buttons as the suitcase popped open.
It immediately revealed documents and vials, sealed bags of evidence and photographs paper clipped together, the equipment of a CSI. Jack stepped back from the case to allow them to see the contents, gesturing at it all.
"But before that, we're gonna have a scan over the evidence the police found, see if we can't find a lead somewhere. This is gonna be the biggest case you guys have ever worked on and you don't rest until his killer is putty in our hands," he said through determined, gritted teeth. It was impossible to miss the amount of anger in Jack's eyes at the sight of the dead man's body.
"Owen," Jack said, turning to the London doctor, "I want you to catalogue his injuries and remove those bullets. Gwen," he turned to the Welsh woman that Rose vaguely recognised, "I want you to get your police mind out on this – this suitcase is yours from now on." He closed the suitcase and passed it to her, before turning to Tosh, "Tosh, I want all the technical perspective, analyse anything and everything. Ianto…" he turned finally to the Welsh man lingering at the back Rose hadn't seen before, "we need to get rid of all the trace evidence that he ever existed. Retcon if you need to, I don't want anyone chasing after him."
Jack finally turned to Rose, gesturing at her with the group watching intently.
"Oh, and by the way, this is Rose Tyler. Owen, put your dick away, and let's get to work."