A/N - make sure you read Chapter 24 first, this is a double post day.

Chapter 25

"I can prove it." Jack interrupted, his voice steadier.

"How?"

"I need to get something from my pocket. OK?" Using slow movements, telegraphing his intentions, Jack reached into an outside pocket of his greatcoat.

"Try anything stupid and I'll call for back-up."

"Please – trust me?" Jack showed her the penknife he'd taken from his pocket and opened up the largest blade.

"Harkness! Put that thing away now! I'm warning you!" Kathy stood up and backed away towards the door, ready to call for assistance. "How the hell did you manage to get in here armed?"

"One minute – please." Jack didn't wait for Kathy Swanson's response, he just plunged the tip of the sharp blade into the palm of his hand and pressed down hard. Blood immediately sprung up around the wound and, as he pulled the blade free, more blood welled up inside the cut.

"Jack!" the younger man called out.

Kathy noted that he appeared angry rather than upset by his leader's dramatic demonstration. She caught a shared look between the two men as she dashed back to the table, her priority being the weapon, which Harkness pushed to one side, making it clear that he had no intention on using it on anyone other than himself. Trusting Harkness not to attack her, Kathy closed the knife and tucked it into the pocket of her jacket. She then grabbed the box of tissues. The look she'd observed between Harkness and Jones was something she'd file away for later consideration.

"What the hell do you think you're up to?" Kathy growled as she began to apply pressure to the wound with a wodge of tissues.

"It's OK – trust me," winced Jack and then tugged his hand away from hers.

Kathy Swanson watched on in horror as the bleeding came to a halt and the edges of the cut drew together, the flesh knitting together before her eyes. Harkness took the tissues she'd dropped on the table and used them to wipe clean the surface that he'd bled on and then his hand itself. She could have sworn she heard Jones mutter something like 'bloody exhibitionist'.

"Nice trick there – is that something Torchwood is working on?" she asked cynically.

"No – just me. It doesn't just work on simple cuts, I could shoot myself and that would heal too, but that would take more than few tissues to clean up."

"Don't you dare!" hissed Ianto.

"So, let's get this straight," Kathy took a deep breath as she looked from the bloodied tissues to the unblemished hand that Harkness was holding up for her to see. "Last night, you were assaulted and your people took a shot at the attacker to defend you?"

"That's exactly what happened."

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" Jack looked confounded.

"If you just miraculously heal, why on earth would they put themselves at risk defending you?"

Kathy Swanson was surprised when Jones spoke up. He'd left all the talking to Harkness up until that point.

"Just because he heals fast, doesn't mean he doesn't get hurt, that he doesn't suffer pain." He looked up at her directly, his pale blue eyes bright with the intensity of his feelings. He wasn't shouting, but his voice carried, strongly accented and tinged with anger. "That bastard had caved Jack's skull in with a metal pipe and was about to finish him off – we told him to drop his weapon. He was warned that we were armed, but he didn't stop. What would you have done?"

Kathy Swanson sat back, startled by the emotional display from the previously quiet man. She also noted the glare that Harkness gave him and the one returned. There was a spark of something between them, her earlier assumption that he was yet another notch on the bedpost for the apparently insatiable Captain Harkness needed to be modified, it would seem that his relationship with the leader of Torchwood was far more complicated than that.

"This isn't about me, Mr Jones. This is about an accusation of aggravated assault made by a badly injured man. If what the two of you say is true it's your word against his – and there's absolutely no proof that any injuries were inflicted on him." She jabbed a finger at Jack.

"Exactly. That's why you have to drop this charge, Kathy."

"Can't be done."

"This is Torchwood business and I have authorisation-"

"Is it Torchwood business? Were you conducting an investigation when you were attacked?"

"No."

"What were you doing there?"

"I can't tell you."

"Was the man who attacked you involved in one of your cases?"

"Not exactly, but-"

"Then what the hell is going on here? Because from where I'm sitting it looks like this bloke has got a valid case – it looks as if you had been harassing him. His story holds water. He said you'd both been to the Globe and given him grief and then you, Harkness, went back last night to have it out with him, he struck you in self defence and then your mate here came to your assistance and shot him."

"He'd been obstructing an investigation-"

"And that's how Torchwood deal with people who get in their way?"

"No!" Jack yelled out, his patience having been finally tested to breaking point. "You know me better than that. Just look through the records, the only civilians ever shot by Torchwood, on my watch, have been directly implicated in criminal activity. The Brecon-"

"Beacons? Yeah – I read the reports on that one. Not one villager suffered fatal gunshot wounds, although the paramedics were kept busy for hours afterwards."

Resting her elbows on the table and folding her hands under her chin, Kathy noticed that Jones had suddenly got a lot paler. Harkness also turned as if to check on him, patting his knee gently. She assumed that he was getting more nervous about the charges to be brought against him and that was perfectly understandable, all things considered.

"OK, I get it, the vendetta angle isn't your style. I'm sorry, but I have a duty to investigate this."

"So, you're not prepared to drop the charges?"

"Jack – I'm sorry, it's too late for that. I have to pursue this and unless you're willing to stand up in court and explain to the judge and jury how you got injured, and staged a miraculous recovery-"

"Not gonna happen."

"Didn't think so. But I have to follow procedure. I'll see what I can do to persuade the magistrate to issue bail when it comes up before him, but in the meantime I've got no choice but to arrest and charge Mr Jones."

"What if you can't persuade the magistrate?" The younger man asked, his face now composed as if accepting his fate.

"Then you'll be transferred to Cardiff Prison, on remand, until a trial date is set."

"That's unacceptable," growled Harkness, no longer hiding his concern as he reached out to grasp Jones' hand.

"Your ten minutes was up a while ago. If you'd be so kind as to reactivate our cameras, I'll bring in a colleague and we can go about the formalities of charging Mr Jones and transferring him to a cell."

"You're gonna keep him here overnight?"

"Yes – the earliest a magistrate will be able to hear the charge and consider any request for bail will be tomorrow morning."

"It's alright, Jack."

Kathy was surprised that it was the younger man who was trying to put the normally ebullient Captain Harkness at ease. Yet another clue as to the nature of their relationship.

"No it's not." Harkness was more agitated than he had been previously. "Kathy – I need you to promise me that no harm will come to Ianto if he is detained here."

"What makes you think there would be?" Kathy was beginning to sense another undercurrent.

"Just promise me."

"You have my word, Jack. I'll make sure he's treated properly."

"I'll hold you to that."

Kathy was normally adept at maintaining eye contact, but she had to look away from the face of the man glaring at her. There was something dangerous about him, a fierceness she'd heard about but never witnessed before. She knew in that instance, that if anything did happen to Jones, there would be hell to pay.