A/N Apologies for the delay in getting this part posted. December has been really busy and I had not found the time until now to start re-writing the end of the story.
Harrison had to give Tru credit. Within five minutes of their sitting down in the booth Jack strolled through the door and casually ordered a coffee before sitting down next to Harrison. Jack stretched out in his seat and casually sipped his coffee.
No one seemed to want to break the silence. Harrison wondered if he should say something until he caught a discreet warning look from Tru.
"Why aren't you bothering to save her?" Jack finally asked.
"I am," Tru answered. "I just wanted to talk to you and this seemed the best way to get your attention."
"What did you want to talk about?" Jack asked, his voice heavy with suspicion.
"About why you thought I was going to let her die," Tru answered casually. "After everything that's happened, what made you think I was just going to sit back and let you mess around with their lives?"
Harrison looked at Jack to see his reaction. He was not surprised to find that there wasn't one. Jack had the best poker face he had ever seen. He gave nothing away at all, at least nothing that was real. It was all an act. He let everyone see what he wanted them to see and nothing else.
"You still don't understand, do you Tru?" Jack shook his head sadly, in a manner similar to a teacher trying to get an important lesson across to a failing student. "You're the one interfering with the lives of others. I'm just trying to limit the damage you're causing. All those people you've saved should be dead."
"Am I included in that?" Harrison couldn't resist interrupting in a dangerously quiet tone.
"Yes," Jack answered without bothering to turn to look at him. Harrison felt his anger rising again. He knew that Tru had not been particularly pleased about his casual response to the news of his death not so long ago. But he'd known that Tru would move heaven and earth to save him. She saved strangers all the time and he knew that she'd do the same for him. He couldn't take the threat to his life seriously when he knew that Tru was looking out for him. That didn't mean he wanted Jack to talk about his life with the blatant disregard that he was doing now.
He opened his mouth to make another comment but shut it again with a stifled gasp at the sharp kick to his shin from Tru. He shot her a quick glare before she turned to Jack again.
"So if we're supposed to leave things to go on as they did before the day rewound why does it rewind at all?" Tru asked.
"It's something that shouldn't happen," Jack replied. "If the day was rewinding solely for you to fix things, they you should ask yourself why does my day rewind too?"
"So you can help?" Tru suggested.
Harrison glared at Tru again, hoping to get her attention. She finally seemed to pick up on the fact that he was trying to get her attention. He shot, what he hoped was a casual glance towards the window where it was now starting to rain. A few drops splashing onto the pavement heralded the start of the approaching storm and within minutes the downpour had begun.
It had already been early evening and raining for a while when he had started on his way to the morgue the previous day. He wasn't sure what time Tru had got the call to go pick up the victim but it couldn't be long off. Time was running out fast and Jack was not exactly forthcoming with anything useful.
He looked across the table at Jack and saw that he too was looking casually towards the window. Something about his glance was a shade too casual. Harrison looked at Jack and realised what he should have known all along. Jack was stalling for time.
Somehow Jack had figured out they were stuck and now all he was doing was wasting their time with arguments neither could win. And whilst they were arguing the morals of the situation the woman was somewhere out there, in trouble, about to die.
He couldn't let himself think that they might already be too late.
"Tru isn't reliving today," Harrison said in a casual tone. Finally Jack turned to face him instead of Tru. Harrison smirked slightly as Jack's poker face began to slip. Finally Jack was as off balance as he had been feeling all day.
"She must be, or I wouldn't be," Jack replied showing confusion for the first time.
"Harrison," Tru warned. "This isn't the best time to be joking around."
"He already knows," Harrison replied. "At least he knows that something about today's different, he just can't figure out what. So we're gonna to tell him what he wants to know and in return he's going to tell us what we want to know. Right Jack?"
Jack sat in silence as his gaze darted from Harrison to Tru and back again.
"You really aren't reliving the day?" Jack asked Tru.
"No," she answered with a glare at Harrison. Jack grinned maliciously and sat back in his seat. Taking a sip of his coffee he shook his head slightly.
"So I take it I was the one who tipped you off about the studio?" Jack asked with a wry shake of his head. "I did wonder why you went to the television studio."
"I take it the victim has nothing to do with television?" Tru asked, although her tone made it clear she was not expecting an answer from Jack, not least of which because she already knew the answer.
"Not that I know of," Jack shook his head, his smirk still in place. "That move was what tipped me off that something about today was wrong."
"So where can we find her?" Harrison asked, as he shot another impatient glance towards the window where the rain was becoming heavier by the minute.
"You don't actually think I'd tell you, do you?" Jack cast him a disdainful glance as he picked up in the menu and pretended to look over the choices.
"Yes, you are," Tru replied.
"You sound sure about that," Jack commented without looking up.
"If you weren't going to tell us, you'd have left already."
"Maybe I'm just hungry?"
"Only for the chase," Tru responded as she snatched the menu out of Jack's hand and put it to one side. "You like pitting yourself against me. You enjoy it; it's like a game, except today I've not been playing and now you know why. The fun's gone out of it for you, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here. So you're going to tell us what we need to know aren't you?"
"You think you know me that well?" Jack replied thoughtfully.
"Yeah," Tru answered without hesitation. "If the victim dies today it would be rather a hollow victory for you."
"But still a victory," Jack retorted.
"But that's not enough for you."
"What makes you think she should be saved?" Jack questioned quietly. "If your day hasn't rewound then what right have you to interfere at all?"
Harrison opened his mouth to reply but quickly snapped it shut as he felt Tru's heel pressing into his foot.
"Maybe because it's the right thing to do?" Tru answered.
"Or maybe because you like the game too," Jack grinned. "We're not as different as you like to think."
"Tru saves people and you kill people," Harrison muttered. "You can't get much more different than that."
"I don't kill people," Jack replied in hurt tone. "I only make sure that fate plays out as it's supposed to."
"Really?" Tru hissed. "So it was fate that sent Luc to his death and not you?"
Harrison could tell that Tru was getting more and more frustrated. Somehow Jack had managed to steer the conversation away from the victim again and back to the same old arguments that only served to waste their time. Putting a calming hand on Tru's arm Harrison reflected momentarily on the way their roles had been reversed today, in more ways than one.
"Let's think about this logically," Harrison suggested, whilst worrying slightly that he was starting to sound like Davis. "Jack turned up at the morgue earlier today."
"So?" Tru questioned.
"So something must have happened earlier today for him to do that."
"Score one for Harrison," Jack nodded and grinned. "But that won't be enough to track her down."
"A name would be helpful," Harrison muttered.
"Yes it would," Jack nodded. "Shame you don't know it."
"So you could tell us," Harrison commented, not believing for one moment that Jack would tell him the name. As such it came as rather a surprise when Jack, after another glance out of the window, gave a small shrug and told them the woman they were looking for was one Deana Maddison.
Tru grabbed her phone from jacket and quickly called Davis. Relaying the information to him she jumped up from her seat and headed for the exit, Harrison close at her heels.
"Thanks Jack," Jack called sarcastically from the table.
Harrison turned to shoot one final glare at him and saw Jack mouth the words "game on" as he finished his coffee.
"So how do you know he wasn't lying?" Harrison asked as soon as they were outside.
"We don't," Tru replied as she waited for Davis to complete his search.
