Chapter Eleven
Before anyone could react or check on Harris, the door of the mess hall was kicked off its hinges, revealing Owen, Tosh and a fair distance behind them: McGee, Ducky and Mr. Palmer. Three of the five had their guns drawn, expecting the worst. There was no sign of any of the other Petty Officers from Reilly's dorm behind them.
"We heard gun shots." Owen breathed deeply, his eyes darting around the room, halting briefly on the now dead Petty Officer and coming to rest at Jack. "Shit." Owen muttered and he moved through the doorway and over to Gwen and Ianto.
"It's clear." Tosh turned to address McGee, Ducky and Mr. Palmer as she holstered her weapon, before following Owen.
"What happened?" McGee asked to the room in general, as he passed through the doorway.
"Tom Harris happened, Probie." Tony muttered, rather solemnly, nodding first in the direction of the Petty Officer's body and then over where Jack lay. McGee shut his eyes and his mouth opened in a small 'oh' of understanding.
Ducky and Mr. Palmer immediately went to the aid of Jack, despite knowing there was nothing they could do. Ducky brushed his fingers against Jack's neck feeling for a pulse; there was none. The older medic bowed his head and muttered his condolences to Gwen, Ianto, Tosh and Owen, before turning to question Gibbs.
"What happened here, Jethro?" Ducky asked calmly.
"He saved my life, Duck." Gibbs muttered, blinking a few more times than necessary.
"Oh, Jethro." Ducky immediately put a comforting hand on his shoulder, his thoughts, like Gibbs', going back to when Kate was shot after saving Gibbs' life.
'It all happened so quickly." Gibbs went on. "Harris pulled out a gun, it was aimed at me. I tried to negotiate, but the kid was in hysterics, he was the one that did it. It was just a prank gone wrong, Duck."
"But how..."
"The Captain anticipated what was going to happen, he'd already positioned himself behind me and when the trigger was pulled he threw me out of the way and took the bullet himself." Gibbs, ignoring the concerned looks from both Ducky and his assistant, turned to look over at Jack, where his team had gathered around him. He was almost shocked to see that only one of them was crying. The others all looked content and their medic was just looking annoyed. Gibbs sighed.
"Everyone handles their grief differently, I spose." he muttered, quietly.
McGee, who had silently been listening to their conversation now turned back to Ziva and Tony, who were seated on the uncomfortable looking chairs of the mess hall. Tony, once again, had his arms around the Mossad agent in comfort and McGee smiled sadly at them.
"That could have easily been Gibbs." Ziva muttered, her eyes glued to the unmoving form of Captain Harkness.
"We know." Tony answered her, glancing up at McGee briefly.
"He must have known he'd get shot." McGee told them. "He did it all on purpose."
"Gibbs isn't going to be happy is he?" Tony stated; there was a hint of frustration in his voice, as though he was annoyed at himself about not being able to do anything. None of them answered him.
"Did you want me to get the gurney, Doctor?" Mr. Palmer asked, very unsure of himself and what to do.
"Not yet, Mr. Palmer. We will leave that for Dr. Harper. I am sure he will inform us if they need our assistance."
"Yes, Doctor."
Ducky turned away to face Gibbs again, and watched at he slowly got up from the ground; he hadn't moved since he had been pushed. The NCIS leader walked slowly over to the Torchwood team, his eyes on their dead Captain. Someone, he presumed Ianto, had closed Jack's eyes. It would have looked like he was asleep if it weren't for the seeping bullet hole in his chest, and the pool of blood slowly forming around the Captain.
"You have my condolences." Gibbs told them, his voice low and grave. The four of them looked up at Gibbs before turning to glance at each other as though conducting a silence conversation.
"Thank you." Gwen told him a few moments later with a small smile. Gibbs nodded and without another word turned towards his own team, leaving the team on their own.
"What the bloody hell are we meant to do now?" Owen growled at them, making sure his voice was unheard by all of the NCIS agents.
"I don't know, Owen." Ianto told him. "Jack didn't exactly plan on getting shot."
"There's nothing we can do." Tosh stated with a frown. "Jack is going to wake up any minute now and they are all going to find out."
"Can't we just retcon them?" Gwen asked and Ianto nodded at her suggestion.
"It's possible. But I'd rather we checked with Jack first." Ianto replied.
"Ok." Owen glanced up at the NCIS crew, all engrossed in their own quiet conversations. "Their medic is going to want to give us a hand. We're going to have to come up with something."
"We can't, Owen!" Tosh told him, his voice rising ever so slightly.
"Ok, fine." Owen looked like he was thinking hard for a moment. "Excuse me, Dr. Mallard." He asked.
"Dr. Harper?"
"Could you get your gurney for us? We didn't bring ours." Owen told him, ignoring the looks from the three surrounding him.
"Of course." Ducky nodded his head and turned to his assistant. "Mr. Palmer, you can get the gurney now, please."
"Sure, Doctor." Jimmy replied and immediately trotted off to fetch the item in question.
"What was that?" Gwen asked Owen in a hushed, angry whisper. "Asking their medic for help?"
"Tosh was right. They're going to find out anyway, there is nothing we can do." Owen replied. "Besides, I thought it would be a good idea to get at least one of them out of the room for when Jack wakes up." Ianto nodded slightly and the four of them elapsed into silence. Minutes passed and still Jack had not yet woken up.
"Come on, Jack!" Gwen told him, as though that would make it all go faster.
"I've got the gurney, Doctor." Mr. Palmer had returned, and the four Torchwood employees looked up at him in shock.
"Thank you, Mr. Palmer." Ducky replied. "Over here, if you will."
Gwen, Tosh, Ianto and Owen could only watch in fear of what was to come as the two NCIS medic positioned the gurney beside Jack, in order to place him on it.
"We have to tell them, Owen." Ianto told him, deciding on the spur of the moment.
"What do you have to tell us, Dr. Harper?" Gibbs was back and listening to their conversation. Gwen, Tosh, Ianto and Owen all stood up to face Gibbs and his team.
"You see the thing is..." Owen began, rather clumsily. "The thing about Jack is that..."
At that perfectly timed moment, there was a loud gasp from the floor and Jack eyes flickered open again.
"... Can't die." Owen finished and they parted to show Jack, now sitting up and looking rather bashful, a rare thing for the Captain.
Everyone in the room reacted immediately. Palmer's eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted, caught by a stunned Tony, who carefully lowered the medical assistant to the ground; never taking his eyes of the recently resurrected Captain. McGee's jaw hit the ground in complete shock; if he'd been any less experienced, the junior field agent was sure he would have wet himself. Ziva stood perfectly still blinking a few times as though she didn't quite believe what she was seeing and Gibbs simply looked as though he didn't know how to react.
Ducky, however, who after his chat with Owen, was not particularly surprised, merely shook his head and made an incoherent comment about his poor assistant before turning back to Jack.
"Good to see you well again, Captain." Ducky smiled, oblivious to the stunned looks of his friends and colleagues.
"It's good to be back." Jack told him with a smile.
"I..." For once, Gibbs was at a loss of words.
"Anytime, Gibbs." Jack told him, guessing he was about to say thanks and Gibbs nodded in reply.
"Is that technically possible?" Ziva asked.
"No." Tony told her. "Not unless you're a character in one of those online games that McGeek plays."
"Hey!" McGee protested, his jaw now off the ground and received a grin from Tony. Everyone's mood had considerably lightened with the return of Jack.
"I don't even want to know." Gibbs finally found his voice and shaking his head at the overall absurdness of the situation.
"I wasn't going to share." Jack told him with a grin and took Gibbs' offered hand, which pulled him up.
"Gaaahhh!" Jack groaned and in an instant Ianto was there to support him.
"You ok?" Gwen asked him, appearing on the Captain's other side.
"Yeah." Jack told them, rubbing his chest. "But, I'm going to have quite a painful chest ache for a while. I really need to stop getting shot."
"Rather you than me, if you don't mind me saying." Gibbs told him.
"I don't mind at all." Jack replied with a genuine smile.
A/N: For all those out there who don't watch Torchwood - Jack actually can't die, it's not something I've made up. And it's very convienient when it comes to writing too. :) For everyone - Hope you enjoyed this, only a few more chapters to go. Please R & R. :) Thank you!