Chapter Thirty
*^*^*^*^*^*January 19th^*^*^*^*^*
I spent the night lying by Jack's side. I kept a hand over his heart, hoping that I would feel his heart start beating again. I had washed both our bodies to remove the blood, sweat, dirt and grime, and I had placed Jack in some sports cloths. It didn't feel right to leave him naked while he was dead even though I knew he wouldn't care.
Despite my exhaustion, I didn't sleep.
An hour before I had asked the others to be in, I pulled myself up and got dressed. Arming myself with a simple knife and gun instead of my full arsenal. I wasn't planning on leaving the hub at all that day, but it was better to be prepared than not. I went top side and spent some time sorting Jack's office. This was mostly paperwork that the team weren't authorised to see so I had to ensure it was sorted before Ianto decided to try cleaning in there.
Ianto was the first to arrive and he headed straight for the kitchen to make tea and coffee. I left Jack's office, locking the door behind me and went to the conference room to wait. Since the walls were made of glass they could all see me as I stood by the wall, overlooking the main area of the hub.
Tosh and Owen arrived together. They were going to head straight for their desks, but they spotted Ianto heading to the conference room with coffee so they changed cause. They came in and silently took seats. My eyes drifted to the clock which was placed in such a way that I didn't have to turn away from the glass wall in order to see them.
"Gwen's late." I commented. "Did she phone any of you?"
There was a moment of silence in which I presumed they exchanged looks before Ianto answered. "No. Do you want me to call her?"
"Please. We have a lot of work to get done." I said softly, not turning my gaze away from the sight of the hub.
Ianto left the room to make the phone call and there was silence beyond the sipping of hot drinks. Ianto had placed my cup on the table next to me instead of on the conference table with the others. This meant I didn't have to turn and face any of them to pick up the cup. I knew that if I turned and acknowledge them Owen was going to start the conversation before Gwen arrive, and I wanted this all dealt with in one go.
Gwen turned up twenty minutes later and joined them in the conference room. I didn't wait to listen to her excuses.
"Thank you all for turning up. We have a lot we need to address and sort out." I finally turned around to look at the four members of Torchwood who had betrayed me and Jack. My friends. "Tosh were you able to determine the damage to the computers?"
"Well… um… there's a little bit of cosmetic damage but I can have that sorted by the end of the day. Other than that, there isn't any damage to the computers. I'll be running a deep scan to ensure none of the files were corrupted." Tosh reported a bit hesitantly.
"Ianto, the vaults and archives?"
"Undamaged. I've closed floor twelve back down. All vaults are secure, and we've just got our old guest remaining. I've only looked briefly through the archives but I didn't notice anything out of place." Ianto said succinctly. "I've also catalogued the damage done to the hub. Most of it is just cosmetic, shouldn't take long to fix up."
"Tosh, is your rift alert and predictor program still active?" I asked with a light frown.
"Hold on, I didn't check." Tosh opened her laptop and started typing rapidly. "Everything is working fine on that front. Hmmm… the rift activity also seems to be lower than normal."
"It's probably settling after all the over extensions of being opened yesterday. It will return to normal activity soon, I'm sure. In the meantime, we need to be ready. Paperwork complete, fire arms training up to date, the hub restored and we also need to send out scans to see if opening the rift left any residue problems. Unless there is an alert, I expect everyone to be here at nine in the morning. You will also all be gone by six at night. No one stays later without my permission, and if you are expecting to be late, you let me know." I shot a quick look to Gwen who gave a stubborn glare back.
"What about Weevil hunts? And artefact retrievals?" Ianto asked.
"If something comes up, we will go out as standard. Basic Weevil hunting will be done in pairs as will artefact retrieval. If something happens that suggests the whole team is required, then we will go out. Standard procedure does not change unless I am given a very good reason to do so."
"What about Jack?" Gwen suddenly cut in, leaning forward impatiently. "What? You're all wondering it." Gwen shrugged when she got looks from the rest of the team.
"Jack is presently unable to lead the team. I don't know how long he's going to be out of commission." I responded formally.
"Unable to lead the team? What does that mean? Jack told me he was immortal. That he could heal from anything." Gwen snapped.
"Jack doesn't know a lot about his immortality. Sometimes he heals instantly, sometimes he doesn't. Having been shot, Jack was still recovering when he confronted Abaddon. Whose shadow drains the life out of its victims; Jack died thousands of times until he managed to over whelm the beast. All that life that he held in him, forcible taken from his body." I shook my head. "I don't know how long it's going to take him to come back. All I know is that he will come back."
"Will you let me give him a medical check?" Owen asked.
"There's nothing you can do." I shook my head. "And I'm not letting you into Jack's bunker, nor am I carrying Jack out of the bunker for you to tell me what I already know."
"Are you going to let me give you a medical check?" Owen raised a challenging eyebrow.
"If I feel like I need it. I'll come back in seven days to have the stitches removed. I'm pulling myself from the field for at least that long as well. Which means, we're two people down in this regard. So if something happens, you need to be ready. Ianto, I'm sorry to have to ask this of you. But could you temporarily take up field duties instead of remaining solely as over watch?"
"If you need me," Ianto agreed.
"That means going to the gun range." I warned him.
"I know." Ianto said simple.
"Are we just going to be accepting orders from an eighteen-year-old? Am I the only one who finds this odd?" Gwen suddenly interrupted again.
"Jack officially made me second in command, which means if he is not able to lead this team, the role falls to me." I narrowed my eyes on Gwen.
"That's because you're shagging." Gwen snorted. "You're not qualified to lead this team."
"Gwen." Tosh tried cautioning the women.
"I'm more qualified then you are." I snapped straightening and pulling the cold mask back onto my face. "I have an understanding of the finances required to keep Torchwood running and all of the small little details that you have absolutely no idea about or experience handling. There are hundreds of things me and Jack do to ensure that you all have jobs at the end of the day. Furthermore, the Crown evaluated my suitability to the role and agreed that I was fitting as Jack's second in command. You don't even know who to contact within the Crown when Torchwood needs help. And even if I wasn't around, Owen or Ianto would be the ones to take command, probably acting in joint command – Owen in the field and Ianto in regards to politics and paperwork."
Suddenly my voice dropped a few degrees. "And even if you had all the knowledge you needed to be able to keep Torchwood running, and the mentality required to lead this team objectively, you wouldn't have been officially granted the position of second in command, let alone leader after what you did yesterday. You turned your backs on not just Jack, but the very foundation on which Torchwood was built. Treason against Torchwood, is treason against the Crown. The only reason you still have a job is because it is Jack's decision to make and I know, that despite what you did, you will be forgiven." I let my eyes drift to Owen, Tosh and Ianto as I said this last part.
I hadn't wanted to address this until Jack had woken up, but Gwen had left me no choice.
"Perhaps you should look through the Torchwood manual again, specifically the section related to employees code of conduct. And Gwen, if you try and undermine me I will simple withhold your pay and ban you from working in the field."
"You can do that?" Owen asked shocked.
"Of course I can." I looked at Owen curiously. "Or did you never wonder why your pay check was smaller after you'd gone against Jack's direct orders?"
"So, does that mean your docking our pay… because of yesterday?" Owen asked.
"I'm not doing anything to punish any of you for yesterday. Since I don't want to involve the Crown – she will have you fired at a minimum – and I know Jack will wake up. If, however, Jack can't return to his post in seven days I will have to think of something. Insubordination in a time of crisis could get people killed. It did get people killed." I warned them. "Now, we have a lot of work to get done."
*^*^*^*^*January 11th*^*^*^*^*^*
My days were spent cleaning the hub, going through the never-ending mound of paperwork and keeping an eye on what the rest of the team where doing. When I needed to get away from the team, I would patch myself into the network before travelling the series of corridors which were attached to the hub, looking through the security for these sections and determining if they have a connection to outside the hub. Since the hub was built so far underground, there were several tunnel exits to the sewers and subways. This would come in helpful if the hub was ever invaded again since there was a way for them to get out.
My evening and nights were spent with Jack. I was treating his body like he was in a coma, and not like a dead body. I would update him on what had happened that day, sing songs or read books aloud to him before getting a couple of hours sleep while lying next to him because I needed to sleep to heal. Then I would repeat the cycle.
At the end of the third day, I tiredly headed down to the bunker. As had become my custom I stripped down to just my underwear. The bunker was always warm and it was uncomfortable to sleep in too much clothing.
With a sigh I laid down next to Jack and began running my fingers through his hair. This was a comforting gesture for me, just because it was so familiar. And yet, I also knew that when Jack came back, the gesture would be comforting to him because it was something I did whenever he had a nightmare. Jack once said that coming back from the dead left him disorientated, because it was like his soul was being dragged over shattered glass. It was painful and he didn't always know where he was.
"Jack," I whispered softly. "I haven't come to terms with what has happened. I was shot by a friend… and I haven't stopped to think about it. I'm just going through the motions, working to keep the team together because somebody needs to. Because without Torchwood here to monitor the rift, Cardiff will be left exposed. Innocent people put at risk. And maybe it will expand beyond Cardiff to the rest of the UK. Jack, I need you. I don't know how much longer I can hold on."
I chocked on a sob, lowering my forehead to rest against Jacks. "I love you Jack. And I know you'll come back. I know you'll wake up."
My eyes snapped open when I felt breath against my lips. Piercing blue eyes stared back at me.
"Thank you." Jack whispered.
"For what?" I asked confused.
"Believing in me. For being here." Jack answered.
I pulled back slightly to take Jack in properly. Colour was rapidly returning to Jack's skin, his eyes shining with life. "I will always believe in you. Believe that you will come back to me."
"And I believe that you are strong enough." Jack responded, his eyes soft and he reached up and ran a thumb along my cheek. It was gentle, sensual even.
"How much did you hear?" I asked, rolling so I was on top of Jack instead of lying half draped over him. My knees rested on either side of Jack's hips, while my right hand was on his chest and my left still threaded in his hair.
"All of it." Jack's hand trail down to my stomach. Seeing the question in his eyes I sat up, resting both my hands lightly on Jack's shoulders. Since I didn't want to squish Jack, a lot of my own weight went through my legs instead of onto Jack's hips. "I never thought that Tosh could do something like this." Jack admitted, running his thumb gentle over the stiches.
The bullet had entered three inches to the right of my belly button. I had been fortunate enough that Owen didn't have to dig around too much to retrieve the bullet meaning there was likely to be minimal scaring. The bullet had missed every important organ when it went in and had come to rest in my hip bone, causing a fracture at the point of contact.
"Bilis was manipulating all of them into a state of desperation." I sighed, holding Jack's right hand to my stomach, enjoying his warmth settling into my being. "Convincing Ianto he could bring back his soul mark, whole and healthy. That Owen could undo his perceived failures to bring back his fiancée and save Diana. He took Gwen's soul mark from her, so that she would reach the point of desperation he needed to convince her that he could undo death. As for Tosh, her mother…" I sighed. "He used their images to try and convince them that what they were doing was right."
Tosh had cornered me that morning to explain what she had seen. I had known about Ianto before the incident, and working out what Owen had seen wasn't too difficult considering the few people that Owen attached himself to and the way his behaviour was influenced by their lose.
"You've already forgiven them." Jack observed, moving his other hand so that his hands were completely covering my stomach.
I was silent a long moment. I hadn't let myself think about it over the last four days. But going back over what I had just said, I realised that I had forgiven the team for their betrayal. "Yes, yes I have." I admitted.
"How long has it been?" Jack asked.
"Four days. It's the night of the fourth."
Jack didn't say anything in response to that, but his eyes were watching my body, looking for something. I silently moved his hands to my hips before moving my hands to the lip of the shirt Jack was in. Slowly I moved my hands up his torso, lifting the shirt. "We were interrupted."
"Were we?" Jack allowed me to remove his shirt before returning his hand to my waist. "Well I don't like unfinished business."
"Me neither." I swooped down and captured Jack's lips in a searing kiss.
Despite just coming back to life Jack quickly took control of the situation, rolling them so he was on top. Although they had done a lot of petting before now, this was different. Wherever Jack's hands or lips touched ignited a blaze of pleasure in its wake. I was so lost to the sensations that I couldn't even remember when we lost what remained off our clothing.
There was a moment, just before Jack entered me for the first time, when he paused. His eyes were burning with lust and passion as he stared into my own eyes.
"Are you sure?" he asked, his voice coming out in a very sexual growl.
"Yes. I want this. I want you, Jack." I gasped, catching my breath before pulling Jack down for a kiss. "I trust you, with everything."
"Then let me show you the stars." Jack whispered in a seductive growl before pulling me into a deep kiss which had my body arching up to meet his. I could feel one of Jack's hands moving to my hips to guide them while his other hand guided my legs into the position he wanted them.
When Jack finally, and ever so slowly, pushed himself into me, there was no pain. The slight discomfort was lost among the pleasure as Jack stroked, licked and kissed my body; worshipping me like I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Then they were moving together, two people moving to their own rhythm. Fast with excitement, and slow with sweet caresses. Passion and love.