Max walked into the bar a full ten minutes early and was surprised to see Jack already there. Not sure how to take that, she nervously made her way towards him and took a seat on the other side of the table.
Jack sat down with a glass in each hand and glanced up to see Max heading his way while putting on his most charming smile. As she sat down he caught a glance of her necklace; a rectangular pendant with writing on it. "Nice necklace," he said pushing one of the glasses towards her. "where'd you get it?"
Max automatically placed a hand on the pendant and fidgeted with it, "Don't really remember. I, uh, got it a long time ago."
"Uhuh." Leaning closer so she could hear him over the normal noise of the bar he asked, "Aren't you wondering why I wanted to have a drink with you?"
"I-uh-assumed that it had to do with this afternoon."
Jack gave a short laugh at the comment and looked her in the eyes, "Maybe I just wanted to get you away from Lorne."
Max felt her cheeks heat up at the comment, suddenly becoming flustered, and tore her gaze away from him while stuttering out, "Uh…I'm-uh-flattered and all…but, um…"
Jack could see that he might have taken the flirting a bit too far (even for him) and leaned back while giving her a soft smile, "Don't worry, I just wanted to get to know you better."
To say that she was relieved would be an understatement, while Evan had warned her about Jack she hadn't expected he would be that flirtatious with her. Still slightly flustered, she opted for an embarrassed smile and taking a rather long drink from her glass.
After a second or so of silence Jack spoke up, "So why did you leave?"
"Atlantis?" Max asked wondering why he would ask her something like that. "I thought that Evan would've told you-"
"No I mean with the Doctor."
"Crap." Max thought while scrambling; how had he known? "Who?" she asked, trying to pass off confusion and that she was perfectly calm while inside her heat was beating a mile a minute.
"The Doctor." Jack replied, leveling his gaze at her and seeing that he had clearly rattled her. Just how long had she lived keeping it a secret? And better yet how is it that no one else at the SGC, including Lorne, noticed?
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do." Jack commented, sitting up and leaning closer towards her again but this time there was no hint of flirtation. "I had Tosh pull up your records and there's a two year gap before Atlantis. No credit charges, bank deposits, tax payments, or salary payouts; it's like you disappeared off the face of the Earth. Then you suddenly pop up again and carry on like nothing ever happened."
Max knew that she had been caught; the only surprise she felt was that it hadn't happened sooner. But she still had the chance to deny it. Trying to calm herself down she stared back at Jack before replying, "I could've been to Atlantis before my record says so."
"But how do you explain this?" Jack asked, pulling out a photo from his coat pocket and sliding it towards her. They had stumbled across it by accident, while Tosh was looking up everything, and at first he thought it was a family member; her mother perhaps or a close relative but when he compared the photo with a second, completely different one the resemblance was exact.
That's when he started to put the puzzle pieces together.
Max glanced at it and swallowed thickly; how had that photo of her at the Berlin Wall survived? She thought that Jon had gotten rid of all the copies. Still trying to feign innocence she forced a smile while looking at Jack and saying, "We're part German and I still have family there. Could be a relative."
"Who looks exactly like you?"
"You'd be surprised how much I look like my mom's side of the family."
"Uhuh." Jack replied, not convinced but had to silently applaud Max for trying to hold her own. "There's also your necklace."
"What about it? I told you that I don't remember where I got it."
"I know. But how many people, excluding me, on this planet have been to Rapticon?"
"It's not from Rapticon; it's from Ill…usia." Max said before thinking and paused when she realized she had just given herself away. Seeing the smirk on Jack's face she raised an eyebrow, "But you already knew that didn't you?"
Jack just gave Max a smile to convey his answer. After taking a look at her records he had guessed that she had been a Companion but hadn't been sure until he had seen the necklace. Plus after Tosh had left he had done some more digging and found that after reappearing she had quit her job at a very posh private school and traveled to South America with PBI.
After leaving former Companions always tried to help better the world anyway they could and always had a skewed view of the world with it showing in their eyes; Martha had it and Jack knew that from time to time he did as well.
"So how'd you figure it out?"
"Your records, the picture, and the necklace clued me in. Plus it helped that you still have your TARDIS key." Jack said while casually pulling out the chain and dangling it in front of her.
"How'd you-we never-that was in my back pocket." Max stammered out.
"You'd be surprised at what these hands can do." Jack set the key down and they both stared at it, silent. Glancing up from the table he asked, "Did you like it?"
"Sorry?"
"Traveling with him, how'd you like it?"
Max smiled and Jack noticed a spark appearing in her eyes. Smiling to himself he recognized the look, everyone who had gone with him got the same look when remembering past adventures. "It was amazing." Max breathed, recalling buried memories. "I got to see different worlds as well as the past and future, although we stayed more in the future than past, aside from the time we were in Berlin. That might of had to do with a run in with Mary Stuart we had after I joined him."
"Mary Stuart? What was she like?"
"Nothing like they say in the history books; she was a complete bitch and her damned dog tried to bite me, but it was absolutely wonderful." Max said, a smile appearing as she recalled the trip. "We ran into all these different aliens…some were stranger than others but no matter if they were trying to kill us or help us it was exciting just to see them. And there were these things called Darlek's that-"
"I know." Jack cut Max off sharply, his smile instantly fading. No matter how much time has passed since the Game Station, it still pained him to hear that name and he hoped that he'd never run into those thrice-damned things again.
Now that he knew that she had enjoyed traveling with the Doctor as much as he had there was one question that was burning in his mind, "Why'd you stop traveling with him?"
Max's smile faltered and glanced away from Jack as she said, "I wanted a normal life again."
"Like hell you did." Jack replied, not buying the excuse for a minute. "Why'd you really stop traveling with him? From what you just told me it seemed like you could keep being his Companion forever."
This time Max's smile disappeared and her eyes hardened. "Like I said; I wanted a normal life again."
Jack tilted his head to the side considering his next move; it didn't feel right giving her Retcon but at the same time he couldn't let her go without some kind assurance that she wouldn't go talking about Torchwood (he didn't think that would happen but he had been wrong about Suzie) and that left him with two options.
Evan heard the door open, close, and looked up to see Max taking off her coat. Getting up he asked, "How'd it go?"
"…pretty good. He bought me a drink and then we talked." She replied, putting her coat on the rack.
Evan knitted his eyebrows together with worry; Max seemed a bit distracted and wondered if the Retcon was working. He hated the fact that Jack had to dose her with it, hoping that he could talk to her about everything that went on at the Hub, but knew he had little say in the matter when it came to keeping Torchwood's secret. "What'd you talk about?"
"Oh…this and that. He offered me a job."
Evan was taken aback by the sudden pronouncement that had literally come out of no where. "I'm sorry?" he asked knowing that he looked stunned.
Max looked at Evan and almost laughed at his surprised look if it had been a comical situation but at the moment it wasn't. "Jack offered me a job at Torchwood." She said, moving past him towards the couch to sit down.
Scratching his head he followed her; she should've gotten Retcon, to forget everything that had happened today, not a job. "Why?"
"Not sure…he said something about saving me from 'death by domestic'." Max gave a forced laugh, as the joke fell flat. "I start next week."
"Whoa, hold on. I didn't say you could." Evan protested, sitting down and looking at his wife.
Max raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me? I didn't know I needed your permission to get a job offer."
"You don't…it's just really dangerous. We don't just go after alien tech; there are these things called Weevils that we hunt down when they come up here. You see this?" he pointed to his cut which had required stitches after all. "I got this from one today and it wasn't completely riled up. I won't put you in that kind of situation."
"Oh so you can go off but I have to stay home?" Max shot back, getting up and moving away from Evan. "I won't be in danger. I'll just be looking after the tourist shop and other odds and ends until the kids get out of school."
"That's what Ianto's for, and while I have to admit that he knows more than just how to make the coffee and order food I just don't see why he needs you." Evan was thinking out loud now, while pacing. "Obviously Jack didn't use Retcon on you and why should he? You've kept Atlantis a secret all this time so it's not like you'd go and tell the papers…like they'd believe you anyways. So why'd he give you a job?"
Max just gave him a small smile while saying, "He has his own reasons…you'll have ask him."
"Can we talk?"
Jack looked up to see Evan standing in the doorway to his office. It was the morning after he had offered Max the job and had been waiting for Lorne. "Sure," he replied, setting down his pen and leaning back in his chair. "just as long as you don't break up with me."
Even though he didn't want to, Evan couldn't help but smile. However the expression was quick to fade and he asked, "Why didn't you Retcon her?"
Jack was silent, looking at the (very much) younger man while wondering how much he knew about Max. Obviously she wouldn't have told Lorne about the Doctor and her travels with him; even with having been on Atlantis, a city that as far as everyone else knew was just myth, Evan might have trouble believing everything about the Time Lords and their technology. "Do you trust her?"
"Of course I do, why?" Evan asked, slightly confused as to why Jack was asking him that. Despite their problems over the years they still trusted each other, so he knew that whatever he told Max would stay with her.
"Then why are you against her taking the job?"
"Because it's too dangerous-"
"That doesn't stop you from doing it." Jack interrupted, leaning forward. "She'll only be running the shop topside with the odd filing in the archives every now and then, nowhere near the Weevils or secure lock-up. Ianto's been on my back to get some extra help; there's only so much that man can do no matter how good at it he is."
Seeing that Evan still wasn't happy about Max working for Torchwood he continued, "How about I make you a deal? Let her try it for awhile and if you still think that it's too dangerous then I'll Retcon her." He looked at Lorne while raising an eyebrow. "That sound fair to you?"
Evan was silent for a few seconds thinking about Jack's proposition. Slowly nodding his head he said, "Three months and not a word about this to her understand?"
"Not a peep."
A/N: I know that nothing real exciting has happened yet, but I promise it picks up once they reach Atlantis. PBI stands for 'Peace Brigades International' and they send volunteers to areas of conflict, providing protective accompaniment to human rights defenders threatened by political violence (you can look them up if you want to know more). See chapter one for all disclaimers and Review please (cookies to those who do)!