11.
Jack kept away from Ianto while the medics looked after him, preferring to keep an eye on Finlay sitting in the back of the SUV, knowing it would shake him too much to see Ianto that way. It was bad enough from the distance: a blood-soaked bandage around Ianto's head and bruises discoloring his pale skin, braces around one leg, his neck and one arm, Owen working on him while the medics prepared to leave, and Ianto … so utterly still.
The doors to the ambulance slammed shut.
Jack turned away while it slowly made its way back towards the street, sirens and blue lights on. He startled when someone said his name and looked down at Tosh who was staring at him with a shy smile. "Owen's going with Ianto," she said and then bit her lip as if she'd suddenly realized that she was stating the obvious. "He'll call us as soon as he knows something."
Jack searched for words but he couldn't bring himself to speak. He didn't know what to say. While his memories of Ianto were sharp and fresh now, the memories of the others were still weak and blurry, present but somehow dodgy as if he only knew them through stories somebody else had told him. "Thank you," he finally settled for and forced a smile.
Tosh reached out and touched his arm and he noticed hesitance in her movements, as if she wasn't sure of him, either. "How could this happen?" she asked. "I know you should mean the world to me and I even know why but … it's like I'm fighting myself."
"The false memories are strong," Jack replied with a nod. "I feel like you're my family but I also feel betrayed by everything that is Torchwood because I was a prisoner for such a long time …" Tosh frowned and Jack shook his head. "I wasn't," he said and gave a helpless smile. "See, it's hard for me, too."
Gwen joined them, her hands deep in the pockets of her leather jacket. "He got to Rhys as well. I just talked to him and he didn't remember a Jack Harkness until I described you."
Tosh let go of his arm and and looked over to the SUV. "How could we forget you?"
"Easy enough," John answered from where he was sitting on a rock. He got up and came over to them. "He transferred your memories and emotions about Jack onto himself and since the human brain is such an amazing thing, your subconscious adapted to it and filled in any blanks that could have come up."
Tosh looked at Jack. "So whenever you sacrificed your life for Torchwood and got up again, our mind came up with how the story played out differently with Finlay."
John nodded at her.
Tosh's eyes widened. "But he wasn't Ianto's lover like Jack was. While everything that happened during work changed for him as it did for us, his private life changed too much and that caused him to snap out of it easier."
"Clever girl," John replied.
Gwen swallowed visibly. "Finlay must have known that, so he kept Ianto separated, changed him into an archivist and General Support only and he isolated him from the team to make it harder on him to talk to someone about any doubts he could have."
Tosh nodded. "Finlay made himself to be Ianto's best friend."
John spread his arms in a 'there you go' gesture. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." He smiled. "And I can vouch for the fact that Ianto didn't have a boyfriend until a few days ago. I mean, I watched all of you for a while. That Samuel guy just appeared out of nowhere one evening."
Tosh deduced, "Because there were too many differences in his private life. He needed a lover, so Finlay got him one."
Jack took a deep breath. "And Ianto shot him," he said softly. He looked towards where the ambulance had disappeared, wishing for a moment that he could have gone with Ianto. "All this is vaguely familiar."
"Is it?" Tosh asked.
"Yeah. A name keeps popping up in my head but I don't know why."
Gwen frowned. "What name?"
Jack looked at her. "Adam."
xxx
They drove back to the Hub in silence. Not only because Finlay was sitting in the backseat with Gwen and John, cuffed to the door so he wouldn't be able to reach out and touch them, but also because – Jack suspected – none of them knew what to say. And Finlay didn't seem to know either. He just stared out the window quietly, looking sad.
They split up in the garage. While Jack and John took Finlay inside, Gwen and Tosh took the SUV to go to Ianto's flat and start cleaning up. Entering the Hub was strange but not as strange as Jack had thought it would be. His memories were coming back rapidly now and he felt more confident. He left John to watch over Finlay through the observation window of the interrogation room and went to his office.
It took a while for him to find what he was looking for, buried deep in one of his drawers, but he finally succeeded and pocketed it. On the mobile they'd taken from Finlay – his mobile – Jack dialed Owen's number as he headed back to the interrogation room.
When Owen answered, he sounded wary. "Who's this?"
"It's Jack."
Owen made a thoughtful noise. "I need to change the name in my contacts then. The caller ID read Finlay."
Jack didn't want to talk about yet another aspect of his life having been stolen. "How's Ianto?"
"We set his broken bones and cleaned his wounds. He woke up a little while ago. He's pretty confused as to what happened but that was to be expected. There doesn't seem to be any damage to his brain or spine, though. I'm still waiting for the scans. If they come out clean, he was pretty lucky, considering the fall he took."
"Long-term?" Jack asked, stopping at the corridor leading down to the interrogation room.
"We're looking at a few days in hospital and a few weeks in casts, light duty then to get him back in the swing. Maybe two or three months all in all, but he should be fine after that." There was a slight pause and then Owen said, "I can only speak for his physical health right now, though. Mental is another thing."
Jack nodded slowly, for a moment unaware that Owen couldn't see him. "Thanks."
"I'll stay with him a while longer, maybe the night. I don't sleep anyway, so …"
"Yeah," Jack replied. He rubbed his forehead tiredly. "I'll be by later."
"See you then." Owen rang off.
Jack stopped at the door to the observation room and looked inside at John, who was keeping his eyes on Finlay warily. As far as Jack could see, though, Finlay stayed sitting slumped at the table. He caught John's attention by clearing his throat. "I'm going to talk to him."
John nodded and held out a hand. Jack gave him his mobile, not wanting to get distracted by it, then he looked at the door leading down into the interrogation room and took a deep breath.
As soon as Jack entered the interrogation room, Finlay jumped to his feet. He didn't get far, though. With his hands handcuffed to the table, he couldn't stand straight. "How is Ianto?"
Jack stood behind the chair standing opposite Finlay's and crossed his arms. "As if you'd care."
"I do," Finlay replied, his bright eyes wide and worried. "Please, I … I do."
Jack tilted his head. "Who's Adam?"
Finlay stared at him in surprise and a bit startled. "I don't know," he answered then.
Jack pulled the item in his pocket out and dropped it on the table: a plastic bag with the Torchwood logo printed on it and a messy scrawl underneath.
Adam Smith
Finlay stared at the bag, then up at Jack again. "Please," he said softly. "I care."
"You took my team," Jack said coldly, "turned them into some twisted little fantasy of yours with you as the adored leader and best friend of everyone. Don't tell me that you care about them in the least."
Finlay looked at him and ever so slowly, his eyes hardened and his tense, hunched posture changed. He stood straighter now, the handcuffs not seeming to bother him and his mouth showed a cold smile. When he spoke, his voice was calm and soft. "Are you not doing the same thing?"
Jack raised an eyebrow questioningly.
Finlay snorted. "You love that they adore you. I saw your memories, Jack, your hopes and dreams. Do you really think I missed the way you feel about them? You love that Owen challenges you because you know that he only ever does that with people he respects. Poor little Tosh with her vulnerable heart – you love that she trusts you, that you were her fucking hero in a cape who came to her rescue."
Jack swallowed, but refused to let Finlay see how close to home the words hit. He didn't think of his team that way, he knew that. But still … he wondered if, since Finlay saw it that way, his team would as well.
Finlay was grinning now. "And Gwen? The way she looks at you and loves Rhys … you love to see how it plays out, you want to see who she will decide on in the end and while you wait, you play with her feelings, flirting one minute and ignoring her the next. In favour of Ianto, who loves you the most. You're proud he's so strong and caring, but at the same time, you love the way you can make him tremble with just one touch, let you take the lead in almost every way, pulling him closer and pushing him away whenever it suits you." Finlay's eyes narrowed and he looked almost angry. "You can't even being to imagine the amount of love he can show the one person who has his heart."
Jack squared his shoulders, telling himself that Finlay was just trying to rile him up, but the words still stung.
Finlay seemed to see that. He sat down again, lounging in the chair as if he wasn't chained to the table and grinned. "You love them, yes, but you're greedy and prideful of what they feel for you. And you're so damn arrogant about making them feel those feelings for you."
Jack barely suppressed his rage. "Why shouldn't I be proud that those people love me, that they deem me worthy enough to be their leader?"
Finlay pointed a finger at him. "You see? We're not that different after all. We just want to be loved."
"Yes, but I don't force people to love me and to follow me. You do."
Finlay laughed. "They took to me easily. No glitch in the system so to speak. They didn't even realize you were gone, Jack."
"Ianto did."
"Because you broke him. I noticed that I had to make up for what his private life lacked, so I gave him what he wants: a man who loves him beyond reason, who would stand in front of everyone and vow to continue to love him. But guess what … he didn't take to it properly. Because he settled for the best he can have with you and that'll never be what Samuel offered."
The words cut deep and automatically, Jack snapped back, "Well, Samuel can't offer anything anymore. Ianto killed him because of your mind games."
Finlay smiled at him.
"Jack," John said from behind him.
"Not now!" Jack answered angrily without turning around.
"You will want to hear this."
Jack glanced back at him over his shoulder and saw that John was dead serious. He gave Finlay one last withering glare and then stalked up the stairs and out of the room, slamming the door. "What is it?"
John held up the mobile and Jack saw Gwen's name on the display. "He's here now. Tell him what you told me."
"Jack," Gwen said, "Samuel's gone."
Jack glared at the phone. "What do you mean with 'gone'?"
"There is no body. There isn't even blood. Finlay put a seal on the door when he left the flat, it hasn't been broken, so nobody was in here to clean up."
Tosh's voice joined in. "It's like it never happened."
Jack stared at the mobile and then at the door to the interrogation room. "Because it never happened," he whispered, "did it?" He took a deep breath, forcing himself to focus. "Did you see Samuel's body before you left for the Brecons?"
"No. Finlay did."
"He didn't exist, then. Samuel didn't exist."
John frowned. "But I saw him. Ianto didn't hallucinate him."
Jack slowly turned his head towards the door behind which Finlay waited. He felt nauseous at the implications of this new development. It took him only two steps to enter the observation room and look through the window and there, on the chair, sat a man with curly dark hair and a handsome, kind face marred by a mocking grin.
"That's him," John said from next to Jack. "Finlay's a shape shifter."
Jack swallowed. "Finlay has been Samuel all along."
xxx
"I was surprised," Samuel said, looking at them with brown eyes. "It was supposed to be another distraction for poor Ianto, but I ended up being the one distracted." He focused on Jack and Jack shifted a bit, feeling those eyes burn through all his mental barriers and straight into his mind. "How that boy loves you … you have not the tiniest idea, do you? I admit … I let my guard down a bit. It's possible he showed me a side of him not even you know, Jack. The real Ianto, underneath all that independence and bravery and the put-upon conviction that what you're giving him is enough."
He chuckled, the sound sent shivers down Jack's spine and he felt his hands ball into fists. The thought of that man manipulating Ianto to love him, to trust him, to show him his vulnerable side. The image of this man touching Ianto, leading him to the bedroom, to the bed … he ground his teeth together, trying to stay calm.
Samuel didn't look away from Jack for even a second, enduring his glare with a cruel smile. "Underneath all that, he is so very sweet and bedding him might just have been one of my best decisions ever."
Jack couldn't hold on any longer, he exploded into action, grabbing Samuel's denim jacket and pushing him back against the chair until he strained against the chains and gasped for breath, staring up at Jack with wide eyes. Jack growled, "You raped him."
Even though he was choking, Samuel smiled. "He came willingly," he forced out.
"Jack!" John said, his commanding voice pulling Jack back from the brink. There were more questions that needed answers. It wouldn't do to kill Samuel now. He let go and turned away from him. John was standing there with his arms crossed and glared at Samuel. "Why?" he asked. "Why make him believe that he killed his lover?"
"I had to get the team on my side, convince them that Ianto was dangerous," Samuel answered and Jack turned back around to him. Samuel smiled. "The bigger reason, though, might have been that it's fun." Jack stared at him in disbelief and he could feel the tension rolling off John. Samuel was either oblivious to their rage or didn't care. "I implanted the memory of being a serial killer into him once. Quite the rush you get from making good people think they're evil." He looked at Jack, suddenly earnest. "By the way … Adam – that's me. This isn't the first time I've invaded your minds. I was here before, but you tried to kill me and you almost succeeded. I've got to say, Jack, you almost had me, but I was only banned back into the Void instead of killed. I have to thank you for that."
Jack crossed his arms. "We discovered you once, so why come back?"
"It's you, Jack. I couldn't resist you. All those memories … I could feast on them forever."
"Well, you won't."
"Try to stop me," Samuel challenged. Jack startled when a gunshot echoed through the room, for a moment confused as to where it came from. Samuel slumped in his chair, dead eyes staring at the ceiling and a wound in his forehead.
Jack whirled around to John. "What …?"
"It needed to be done," John answered. "And now."
Jack turned his head to look at Samuel once more.
"Retcon didn't work, obviously," John continued, tucking the gun back in its holster. "We got our answers, there was no reason to keep him alive any longer."
Jack stared back at John, aghast. "We could have locked him up."
John raised an eyebrow. "There was a time you wouldn't have hesitated to pull that trigger. Lock him up? He's dangerous. Who knows what he's capable of and you would want to keep him in your base?"
Jack couldn't help but see John's point.
"Besides," John said, "I thought he was a jerk."
"Well, I think you're one too," someone answered and they turned around abruptly to Samuel, who was sitting upright again, the bullet wound gone. He smiled at them. "I told you: You can't get rid of me that easily."
While John and Jack still stared at him, a bright grin spread over Samuel's features. "Oh, dear," he said in mock-concern, "whatever are you going to do now?"
