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Chapter Six: Business as Usual
Cardiff, Wales (UK):
By the time Ianto and Bobby returned, Liz had finished up the last of the tests they'd begun the night before. Bobby was more than happy to let her present their work to the rest of the team, who gathered in the conference room while Ianto passed out the coffee.
"Whatever caused Mr. Miller's death, it wasn't chemical. There are residual traces of some sort of energy, but it's nothing I can identify." With a few keystrokes to her laptop, Liz brought the image of a wave pattern up on screen at the wall.
"Terrestrial?" Jack asked.
"I have no way of saying for certain. But I'm sure you've noticed it matches the energy spike you detected last night."
"Is there any way to predict future spikes?" Gwen wanted to know.
Jack and Liz both shook their heads.
"The best we can do is monitor for another one," Jack told her, "And hope it doesn't happen."
"Don't you dare say case closed," Gwen threatened him.
"I'd like a better idea of what really caused this before I do that," he assured her. "But for the moment, there isn't much more we can do."
"So what now?" Bobby asked without thinking. Unlike his first day with House's team, no one made any snide remarks or put him down for asking dumb questions or being the 'new guy.'
Jack's expression, however, made him much more nervous than if he had started acting like House.
"Now, you and I are going to go downstairs for a little target practice. Gwen, keep on top of the police reports, I want to know if we get another body like Harold Miller. Ianto, there was that incident this morning that I said could wait until later… nothing to worry about," he added at Bobby's questioning look. "I'd just like it cleaned up before end of business today." After seeing Ianto's nod, he turned his attention to Liz. "You're probably about ready to pack your stuff up and head home, huh?"
"I'd like to see this through. Besides, I've got a few autopsies from last week I should clear out before heading off. Assuming you don't mind having me around for a few more days."
Bobby wasn't sure if she was staying for his benefit or if she honestly just wanted to, but he was glad to have her. However, he realized it wasn't his call. He glanced at Jack, who glanced at him. No one said anything for several heartbeats.
Finally, Jack spoke, "You can stay as long as you like. So long as the new medic doesn't object…?"
Bobby swallowed nervously, suddenly feeling both put on the spot and like an idiot. "Not at all. It's been a pleasure working with you," he added awkwardly in Liz's direction.
She gave him a kind smile.
"Good," Jack drained his cup. "Gwen, would you help Bobby get everything out of the armoury and take it down to the practice range?"
"Everything?" she asked.
"Yes. Everything. Although I suppose you can skip the really big guns. Wouldn't want to accidently blow up the Hub," he winked at Ianto.
The Welshman groaned in response.
Gwen just shook her head and shot Bobby a sympathetic look as she showed him the way down to the armoury.
After Liz excused herself get back to work, Jack looked at Ianto. "So?" he asked.
"So?"
"What do you think?" he nodded towards Bobby who was downstairs with Gwen, currently having his arms loaded up with weapons and ammunition.
"I think… I think I'm surprised you're asking my opinion." The younger man replied honestly. Jack had brought both him and Gwen on board without asking anyone what they thought of it. He found Jack's gaze on him and he could see it in Jack's eyes: Owen and Tosh's death still haunted him. Ianto gave Jack what he hoped was a warm, reassuring smile, "The end is where we start from, right?"
………………………………………………
Bobby's arms ached with fatigue and he was so used to Jack breathing instructions right into his ear that he didn't even pay attention to just how close the Captain was standing to him or how dangerously tight those hands were on his hips. He was even almost immune to the intoxicating scent that only got stronger whenever Jack smiled his approval at a particularly good round of shots. It felt as if he'd fired every weapon in the armoury.
"I see you give everyone's training the same personal attention." The sound of Gwen's voice made Bobby jump, although he was grateful it was her and not Ianto. He really didn't want to try and explain to the Welshman just exactly why Jack was standing there with one arm around his waist, positioning his body just so, while the other hand guided his arm.
Jack just grinned over his shoulder at the interloper, "It wouldn't be fair of me to play favourites."
"I wouldn't let Ianto hear you saying that if I were you," she was just as quick as he'd been with her rebuttal.
"Did you have something for me?" Jack let Bobby go, telling him he could take five.
"Rift spike," Gwen answered. "Near the university."
"Big?"
"Nothing Ianto and I can't handle. You do seem to have your hands full here, after all," her tone was mischievous.
Bobby felt a rush of warmth to his cheeks. Gwen just grinned and assured him that no, really, Jack was like this with everybody. "I don't even take it as a compliment any more," she added with a playful wink towards the Captain.
"I'm hurt."
"You ought to be," Gwen told him. "We'll report back if we find anything major." she added on her way out the door. "Have fun, boys."
Jack just laughed and stood back, telling Bobby to get back to work. "Let's see if you can do it without me standing over your shoulder this time."
"Jack, I can barely hold this my arms up."
Jack put his hands on his hips and glared at the younger man. "Do you think that some alien is going to give you time to catch your breath?" the humour was gone from Jack's voice. "Do you think that a Dalek or Cyberman or Sontaran is going to stop attacking just because you're tired? Did that Dagon stop just because you were scared?" It wasn't his tone so much as the anger in his eyes that startled the young doctor. "Your life – their lives – depend on you being able to do your job. If you can't hack it, you'd better tell me now so we can both stop wasting our time."
Bobby swallowed. "I'm sorry."
He turned away from him a moment, his hands still resting on his hips. "No. I am. It's just… sometimes it gets to me." He closed his eyes and took a breath, trying to calm down.
He was startled by the gentleness of the other man's hand on his shoulder.
"I understand. And you're right, Jack. They don't ever let up."
Jack looked the younger man straight in the eye. "No. You don't understand. You, Gwen, Ianto, Liz… "
"We can get hurt, even die," Bobby finished it for him. "You can jump out in between some poor stupid kid and a laser and take the shot for him and survive. You have to live with the fact that you can't die."
"Not ever."
"Not ever?"
Jack shook his head. Then he smiled, just a little, "Although I do have it on good authority that I actually may someday."
"Probably a long time from now."
He nodded.
"Jack, I'm here because I want to be here. I hardly know Gwen or Ianto well enough to speak for them, but I'm pretty sure they're here because they want to be here too. If I know the risks after one day, I'm sure they know them even better. And even if it wasn't going to kill you, you didn't have to take that shot for me. But you did. That's why I'm here, to be a part of something important. To be with you."
Jack gave him a lascivious grin, "Oh really now."
"Don't get any ideas, Captain," Bobby warned him, unable to help the grin on his own face. He'd walked into that one and he knew it.
"Come on. Let's pack this in and see if Liz wants to go get some lunch. You're right," he added before the other could speak, "You've had enough for one day. Wouldn't want to push you so hard you couldn't lift your arms in a real fight if Gwen and Ianto need back up. Or if something else happens before they get back. Besides, if we get these cleaned and put away it'll be one less thing Ianto has to do before coming to bed tonight," he added with a smile that left no doubting what he was really saying.
Bobby chuckled and followed Jack's instructions for disassembling and cleaning the firearms.
While they worked, Jack spoke, "There are a couple of rules we should go over. Number one: never, ever fool around with the rift manipulator."
"The what?"
"I'll show you. The point is, we monitor the rift, we don't mess with it. Ever. No matter what. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Number two: under no circumstances does anyone take anything alien out of the Hub without my express permission. No exceptions."
Bobby nodded.
"Number three: what I said before about your life, their lives, depending on you being able to do your job…?" He waited until Bobby had nodded to indicate that he recalled the earlier conversation before continuing, "We depend on each other, even me because even if I can't die, I can get hurt and nothing hurts me more than losing a member of my team.
"If you can't do your job for any reason, you tell me before it becomes an issue. I'd like to think that there isn't anything we can't work out, but I can't help you with something if I don't know about it. I promise I won't ever judge you – any of you. I've made mistakes too," he added. "I just need to know what's going on in your life that could affect your job here."
"Fair enough."
"Number four goes along with number three. I'm sure you've heard the saying about loose lips and sinking ships? I think they got it wrong. People get hurt when we keep secrets from each other. I'm not saying your private life is anybody's business but your own," he said then to the other man's look. "I'm just saying that secrets hurt everybody."
"Does that include your secrets, Captain?"
Jack chuckled, "It would take you three lifetimes to hear all of my secrets. Suffice it to say if it's important, I promise, I'll tell you. All of you. I expect the same from each member of my team. If that's not something you can live with…" he let his voice trail off.
"Jack, just before I came here, the woman I loved, the woman I still love, told me that she didn't love me. I'd told her I wanted to marry her someday and her response was to pack up all the things I've left at her apartment over the past year and handed them all back to me.
"I didn't even go through the basket, I just pulled all my clothing out of the drawers, off the hangers, stuffed it into my luggage and drove to the airport. I had to take three connecting flights to get here, but I just wanted to get away from there, away from everything that… that reminded me of how raw having her say she didn't love me left me feeing inside. And I still love her," he shook his head. He realized he'd stopped working while he talked and got back to cleaning the gun.
Jack reached over and touched his arm, "I'm sorry."
"It's nothing to do with you and at least I found out before I'd wasted any more of my life with someone who would probably never love me the way I love her." Bobby thought back to how long it had taken him to get to Allison, how long she'd denied she had any feelings for him at all, even to admit that she liked him. I really must be the world's biggest sap, he thought. He hadn't even returned the ring, he'd just tossed it into his bed stand drawer and left. It wasn't like he really needed the money. "Before I left the States, I closed my retirement account and shifted everything around because I know I the likelihood of retiring from this place is slim and don't give me that look, I'm not suicidal," he added. "If anything this job makes me appreciate life more. You've given me the opportunity to see the big picture and believe me, I want to be around to see it all. I'm just realistic enough to understand that you're not going to always be there to stand in between me and an alien with a gun."
"It's not all bad out there, you know."
"I know. That's why I'm here. It probably won't be my children or my grand children who reach the stars, but maybe Allison's will. Maybe she'll get married and have a life and someday her children and grandchildren will be out there and they won't know that I had anything to do with the big picture, but I do. That's my big secret. I'm not doing this for me, not any more, not like I thought I would be when you offered me this job. I'm doing this because I still love her and I want her children to move out into the universe and… and do whatever it is we're going to be doing in the future," he gave Jack a wry smile that made the Captain laugh.
"It's worth it," he said. "Out there… it's worth it."
Bobby was about to say more when they both turned at the sound of Liz's voice at the top of the stair. "Jack!" she hollered down.
"You really should consider an intercom," Bobby told him.
The older man sighed and gave the younger a dark look, "You and Ianto, always complaining about the lack of little conveniences when we're surrounded by all this alien technology."
"So why not install an intercom?" he quipped with a smile.
"Jack!"
"Yeah?" he called up to her. Liz was already half way down the steps. "What is it?"
"There seems to be a Weevil on the loose near the city centre."
"I thought they were mostly nocturnal," said Bobby.
"Usually they are," he agreed. "But rule number five is that you can never really count on anything going quite the way you planned it to go."
"I should think that would be rule number one," Liz observed from the bottom of the stairs.
Jack shot her a look; apparently everybody was in a sarcastic mood this week. "All right, Bobby, looks like you're getting your first lesson in Weevil hunting."
"Can't wait," his tone was dry enough to make Jack laugh again.
"Would you like a hand?" Liz asked. "I'm just about done with that autopsy."
"With the way this day is going?" said Jack, getting to his feet. "You'd better stay here in case something else happens. But…erm… if you wouldn't mind putting these away…" he gave her an apologetic look.
"Consider it done, Captain."
……………………………………..
Jack spotted Gwen's former police partner waiting for them along with another officer at the entrance to the arcade. "Well if it isn't my favourite constable," Jack gave the young man a warm grin.
"Captain," Andy's tone was less than welcoming.
Jack had already turned his attention to the attractive red haired woman next to Andy. "And this is…?"
She blushed under his gaze. "PC Sandra Taylor. Captain Harkness, I presume?" she held out her hand.
"You can call me Jack," his smile deepened. "In fact you can call me anything, any time."
Bobby cleared his throat, "There was some kind a disturbance?"
Andy answered, "Some sort of lunatic running around behind some of the shops. It sounded a little weird. You know, your kind of weird. I figured we should call you because you'd just come in and take over, anyway."
"Which way?" Jack inquired, not quite taking his eyes off the redhead.
………………………………………………..
"So… what exactly…. do we do now?" Bobby was completely out of breath when they finally cornered the Weevil in a dead end; it had led them on a wild chase through back alleys and crowded walkways. Bobby's lungs burned and the muscles in his legs throbbed. So did his sides and back where the thing had grabbed hold of him and shoved him into a wall the last time they'd cornered it. It would have ripped out his throat if Jack hadn't been there to pull it off him. As it was, he half expected that he'd cracked a rib.
Jack, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying himself. A wide grin played across his lips as he asked the Weevil what it was doing out in the daylight like this, didn't it know sunlight was bad for it's complexion, not to mention his paperwork. "You have no idea how hard it's getting to keep your existence a secret."
The Weevil growled and charged at him. Jack met it half way and slammed the creature into the wall.
"Stun…gun…" Jack grunted at him as the Weevil wrestled Jack into a less desirable position, one that left his neck exposed.
Bobby dug it out of the bag Jack had handed him as they headed out of the Hub and, taking a deep breath, dove in. Several seconds later, the Weevil was out cold on the alley floor.
"See. That wasn't so hard," Jack grinned at him. Blood was flowing down his chest.
"Erm. I think it bit you."
"I'll live," the older man shot him a wink. "How about handing me a sedative, just to be safe."
"Right," Bobby passed over a syringe filled with something Liz had called a four-species sedative.
Jack stuck the Weevil just above the collar bone and emptied the contents of the syringe into it. "That should keep it out long enough for us to get it safely back to the Hub." He secured a black cloth sack over the Weevil's head. "Ok. I did all the hard work. You carry it back to the SUV."
"Gee, thanks."
"Any time," Jack leant back against the wall to catch his breath. "That was fun though, wasn't it?" his expression was frighteningly genuine.
"Oh yeah, barrel of laughs," Bobby hauled the Weevil up over his shoulder; it was heavier than he'd expected. "I'm so glad I left New Jersey for this."
"I don't know… Ianto seems to enjoy Weevil hunting with me," he raised his eyebrows, grinning.
"Please tell me there are fringe benefits to this job that don't involve shagging the boss."
Laughing, Jack followed him out of the alley. "Come on, Gwen and Ianto are probably back by now and we're holding up lunch."
Bobby just looked at him, "This is really business as usual for you, isn't it?"
"Like I said, welcome to Torchwood. And just what's wrong with shagging your boss anyway?" Jack managed to sound hurt despite the fact that he was still grinning.
……………………………………………..
By the time they got back to the Hub, Gwen and Ianto had returned with nothing major to report. Jack showed Bobby where to deposit their newest resident, introduced him to Janet. Then Ianto showed him the paperwork that accompanied 'Weevil retrieval.'
After lunch, Bobby found himself elbow deep in alien intestines with Liz for the rest of the day, feeling completely intimidated by her knowledge of alien species, despite the fact that she was doing everything she could not to intimidate him.
When he finally he got back to Ianto's flat, all he could do was shower and crawl wearily into bed wondering just what the Hell he was thinking when he thought he could do this job. He was in over his head and he knew it.
……………………………………………………….
Princeton, NJ (USA):
Allison checked her email again. Still nothing from Robert.
She closed her eyes and tried to tell herself that it was nothing to worry about, even though she knew that he compulsively checked his email at least six times a day.
She wrote him another short note, with the words PLEASE READ in the subject line.
I understand you're upset with me, Robert. All I'm asking you to do is let me know you landed safely. I'll leave you alone after that, if that's what you want. Just let me know you're ok.
She hit send before she could chicken out. He was probably fine. He'd probably read her first email and decided not to respond because he was angry. Hurt.
"But I couldn't stand in the way of you going when you wanted to go. I just couldn't follow you," she said aloud, as if he could really hear her.