FORGIVENESS

FOURTEEN

"Johhhhnnn?" Jack Harkness had slightly loosened his grip from around John Hart's neck, but hadn't yet totally released it. The Captain stared with icy ferociousness at the man who'd been his erstwhile colleague at the Time Agency.

"It's okay Jack, it's really her. It's really Wil. And it's really me, too, by the way, and if you don't let go of me I swear I promise payback and it's not going to be pretty."

"Let him go Jack, we have to help The Doctor."

The Captain wasn't happy but the three magic words – help The Doctor – had been spoken.

Jack took a deep breath, "Right," and released John. "What do we need to do?"

"Jack," John breathlessly explained, "the nanobots inside our heads were never actually deactivated. What happened aboard the Newhope there at the end was apparently all smoke and mirrors. But that's not all! The Doctor's TARDIS is complicit in the deception. Wil has extracted the filaments from your brain as well as mine, but we still need to perform the procedure on him." John nodded toward The Doctor.

Jack had turned his full attention to John – the one cognizant person in the room he felt most confident about at the moment… albeit not a very large amount of confidence. "Where are we?" he asked, looking as intently into John's eyes as he could.

"We're aboard Wil's, uh, ship. She's the one who has the tech and expertise to remove the nanobots. Jack… the procedure isn't pretty."

"How do you know?"

"I tried to watch when yours were removed."

"You tried?"

"Jack, I couldn't do it. I couldn't watch you go through that." Jack felt his knees go a little weak. John had watched as he'd been buried alive, for God's sake, and hadn't even flinched. How much worse could this procedure be? Suddenly a more ominous thought occurred to him and the room quaked.

"You didn't see it? Then…" Jack glanced back at Wil and immediately turned again toward John, "how do you know she's…?"

"Jack, for once in your life please… just trust me on this," John pleaded. "She's here to help us. She's already rescued us once. Do you remember how strange things were getting on The Doctor's TARDIS? I mean think about it! I believe her, Jack. I trust her."

Jack Harkness stared fixedly into his former partner's eyes. He prided himself on being able to tell when John was fucking with him, and he sensed nothing but truth coming from the man. Still… considering what they'd been through on the Newhope – what he'd been through – Jack still wasn't totally convinced that something fishy, or worse, wasn't going on. He felt like it was way too much of a coincidence having Wil show up again. The scene in the Newhope's galley flooded his memory, the intimate words they'd spoken, how badly he'd wanted her…

"Are you absolutely certain, John?"

The response was a silent but ardent nod.

"Okay," Jack turned toward the woman who had once been the single most important person in his life. "You definitely have some explaining to do, but now is obviously not the time," He saw her nod in agreement, a promise clearly implied. "Tell me what's going to happen to The Doctor."

"Grasshopper, that's the ship, performs the procedure using a highly advanced micro-scale laser scalpel along with some other very sophisticated tech. Think of it as a sort of virtual, non-invasive, brain surgery." John made an odd, strangled sound but she ignored him and continued. "The procedure requires an enormous level of precision. The nano-cortical fibers are intertwined with and have to some extent replaced the glia in his cerebral cortex. It's an incredibly complicated and difficult process to unwind and remove the filaments without damaging the neurons and the remaining native glial cells. I'll not deny the surgery is extremely dangerous and potentially lethal. But you and John are both testaments to its efficacy. Thankfully The Doctor's brain physiology is not so different that we can't cope with it, and I have reason to be optimistic we'll be as successful with him as we were with the two of you. Still, his procedure is anticipated to be more far more difficult simply because he presents a new archetype."

She went quiet and held her breath, knowing full well that Jack could refuse to allow the procedure. She had no contingency plan if he did. Going against the Captain's wishes was not something she fancied.

"How can I help?"

She drew a gratified breath.

"Well, you can stay here with me while the ship does her work. You can talk to him, hold his hand." She paused briefly, then turned more somber. "But John's right, it's not going to be pleasant. And I understand if you don't want to hang around. However I would appreciate the company if you're willing to try…

"John, I assume?" she asked softly as she turned to meet his eyes.

"I'm out of here, Wil. I can't… Again, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, John, really. Jack?"

"I'll stay. But with one condition."

"What's that?"

"Do you have some spare clothes I could change into?"

She nodded toward an adjacent room. "There'll be some scrubs in the cabinet next door. Help yourself. Put your soiled clothes down the chute, they'll be cleaned for you."

"Thanks."

Jack left the room.

"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" half-whispered John as he crossed over to her.

"That's what I'm afraid of," she murmured back. "He's holding it all in. That doesn't bode well for the future."

John thought for a moment. "You know, this will probably sound a bit bizarre, but Jack may be as freaked out about the potential for disruption you present to his life as you are about his reappearance in yours." She tried to interrupt him but he waved her off. "No, listen to me. It could be that the two of you simply need to say bygones to each other. I mean, I know you haven't told me where you're coming from but it feels to me like the two of you at present have far more in common than you think."

She looked at John with newfound wonder. He was shorter than her but at that moment he seemed very tall indeed. Without realizing it she took his hand in hers. "Where I'm coming from?" she smiled. "To discover that, John Hart, find out where I'm going and work backward."

"More Buddha?" He squeezed her hand gently.

"No, something a Time Lord once said ages ago. Ages and ages ago..."

Their eyes met for a long moment, "John?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

He gently pulled his hand away from hers and bowed deeply, "M'Lady."

"And here comes Jack," she whispered as she stepped away from him and busied herself.

John turned and walked quickly out of the room.