Chapter Five: Plan C

Harrison Imelder? Why did that name sound so familiar? It was important - at least she assumed it was given the look of sudden understanding on the Doctor's face.

"Leader of the resistance, I take it?" the Doctor asked, holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Harrison. I'm the Doctor and this is Rose Tyler."

She fought the temptation to add that she was his 'plus one,' instead smiling faintly in response. "Hullo."

"The pleasure is all mine, Doctor. I'm afraid that I must be a poor host as I do not have any refreshments to offer you or your lovely companion. Running a covert resistance tends to cut down on the availability of such pleasantries." Judging from the man's expression, she could tell that he was honestly embarrassed by the oversight.

"'Salright," the Doctor shrugged. "Sometimes there are more important things than tea. But only sometimes."

"You are friends of Jack Harkness, yes?" Harrison began to pace, eying both herself and the Doctor with an almost calculating look.

"Yup." The Doctor's response was simple, yet effective. The resistance leader seemed to relax, accepting the Doctor's words as the truth. Then again, it was not surprising. Most good people tended to automatically believe in the Time Lord. There was something about him that just made trust come easily.

"Good. Then perhaps you can answer me this..." Harrison's pacing stopped and he turned to face them. "Why did he come back?"

"Wasn't planned," Rose answered the question, ignoring the Doctor's guilty expression. "We didn't know this was 'is homeworld. Jus' thought it'd be a nice place for a holiday."

Imelder snorted. "Telurais hasn't been a prime vacation spot for over twenty-five years. But, if you're friends of Jack's, well, he wouldn't talk about it. Probably didn't want to remember."

"What 'appened here?" she asked curiously. "What caused all of this?"

"The resistance?" Harrison asked and smiled faintly at her nod. "The cause of 'all of this' is Jack Harkness."

"Doesn't surprise me." The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. "And I'm assuming that that's why Jack shouldn't have come back?"

"Partly." Imelder resumed his pacing. "Jack...I don't know what he's told you about me. Or, rather, us. Once upon a time, we were friends, almost-lovers to tell you the truth. Not much really happened between us, mostly because his mother found out and he was...well, I didn't see Jack for over three months after that. He was different after that time, a little more careful about what he said or what he did in public. However, in private, he told me what had happened. His mother. There really are no words for what that woman has done, and continues to do, both to her own son and to her own people. Jack's experiences just cemented in my mind that something had to be done. And Jack agreed."

Rose could hear an unspoken 'but' in his words and waited patiently for him to continue. She longed to ask him just what Elizabeth had done to Jack, but she suspected Harrison would not answer. There were, after all, some things that you don't tell others - even if they're friends.

"Jack saved me from persecution, the last day that he was on Telurais. Somehow Elizabeth found out about the infant rebellion. But she didn't know who was behind it all. She thought it might be me, and sent her guards to arrest me. Jack found out and, after warning me, confronted Elizabeth with what he knew. He told his mother to think about what she was doing to this planet, to her people, and to him. And she...well, only Jack can tell you what happened. I just know the aftermath. Jack somehow managed to escape and tried to encourage me to come with him. However, I knew that without one of us the rebellion might never come to fruition. So, I stayed and Jack left. He never should've returned."

"But he did," the Doctor said with a deep sigh. She gave his hand another squeeze, trying to draw him out of the guilt that he was trying to drown himself in. He might profess to be a 'new man,' but some things did not change. And taking the weight of the world onto his shoulders, even when he had no way of knowing what might happen, was definitely one of them.

"Then 'ow are we going to rescue him?" she asked, trying to direct the conversation down other, more productive paths than those assigning blame.

Harrison did not meet her eyes, suddenly deferring to his companion. The woman was petite - almost frail-looking - but judging from the expression in her eyes, Rose suspected that she could easily defeat any number of foes. She was a fighter of some sort, had to be. "I'm not sure that we can, Rose. My name's Helena Marcos and I suppose you could say that I work security. Elizabeth is surrounded by guards at all times. It would be logical to assume that the same would be true of Jack. He's been known to rebel before, and the rumours that I heard indicated that your safety was what was keeping him on the Administrator's leash. She won't be letting him have free roam of the colony."

Imelder shook his head. "She never has before, after all. Now with Jack back in her clutches, I doubt she'll let him out of her sight."

The Doctor smiled tightly. "Ah, but where there's a will, there's a way. Knowing Jack, he'll find that way."

"For your sake, I hope you're right." Marcos replied.

For their sake, Rose hoped he was too.

Though the room was a cage, it had still been his room. He had had one place, just under the bed, where he had stashed clothing, books, and music that his mother disapproved of. He crawled underneath the bed, tracing the wooden frame with his hands for the catch that would reveal the hidden storage area. Ah, there it was. Just a tiny knot of wood, almost invisible against the grain. He doubted that his mother even knew of the hidden feature to the bed - at least, he hoped not. He needed a shirt of some kind, and though he had definitely broadened across the chest over the past twenty years, any covering would do. He ideally wanted a t-shirt, not any of the silk dress shirts or tuxedo pieces that were stored in the wardrobe. He wanted to be himself rather than what his mother wanted to be.

The concealed panel dropped open and two t-shirts emblazoned with youthful band names and a pair of jeans fell out of the compartment. It was a lot more bare than he had remembered, but he suspected that this was yet another memory that he had forced out of his mind. When he had still been underneath his mother's iron thumb, he had been caught while wearing a t-shirt. If he closed his eyes, he could still remember the sting of the welts his mother's anger had left upon his skin. His face had been spared, as had any portion of his body that could be seen by anyone else.

Even now, some wounds would never heal. Jack selected one of the shirts and put the rest back into their concealed compartment. Though it did not matter if he hid the stash now, it was habit. Besides, he had no intention of having to look at this room ever again. He wanted out. He wanted to be free. And he wanted to rejoin his friends.

His mother would be occupied during the alert - probably directing the troops or whatever else a dictator did while her colony was falling apart around her. This was as good a time as any to try for an escape. He slid out from under the bed and stood, absently brushing dust particles off his jeans. Pulling the shirt - a little snug, but better than nothing - over his head, he carefully considered the door.

Problem: Two guards, just outside a door that was locked from the outside. Assets: Guards generally are less experienced and young. He had superior training and the determination to use it. Hand-to-hand combat was one of his specialities. Conclusion: Lure the guards inside, knock them out, tie them up, and escape. Only what would lure them inside?

He dismissed the 'pretend to be sick' routine immediately. It rarely worked, and when it did it was pure fluke. He could always try asking for food or some sort of entertainment - books, a vid, something. It'd just be a matter of luring them both inside. Maybe he could try seduction. He shrugged slightly. Might as well play it as it goes.

"Here goes nothing," he told the room at large, though, of course nothing responded. Acting tended to come as a second nature to him. He had become skilled at the art of make-believe living with his mother - pretend nothing is wrong, smile and wave at the citizens, Jonathan. You're happy, remember. They love us. We are the perfect family. That actor's shell was doomed to break, but he had resurrected and perfected the skill as a Time Agent and as a con-artist. Yet that facade broke as well under the Doctor and Rose's influence.

Now, he had to rebuild it. Carefully, oh so carefully. Nothing was wrong. Everything was perfect. Love the job. Love this life. Missed it, in fact. Glad to be home. Hi, how are you? I'm Jonathan Harkness.

Jonathan.

Goodbye, Jack.

See you in hell.

He sauntered to the door, mask firmly in place. He sharply rapped on the door. "Hey! Guards!"

The door opened a sliver. "Yeah?"

He smiled. "I'm bored. You two can't go anywhere stuck on babysitting duty. And I certainly can't get out. I figure that there's something we can do about that."

"Oh?" Jack caught the glimmer of interest in the other man's eyes, not to mention the subtle once-over he had just been given.

"We could always...amuse each other. A game of cards, perhaps? After all, you'd still be guarding me. Only difference is that you can actually see me and the inside of this room." He let the other man make of his comments what he willed.

The guard turned toward his companion, sharing a brief conversation before turning back toward him. "Yeah, okay. Step away from the door."

Jack grinned. "Fantastic." Showtime. He stepped away from the door, doing his best to look harmless. Jonathan wouldn't harm a fly. Jonathan was a sweet momma's boy.

The guards opened the door and stepped in. There was a moment, and only a moment, where their attention was on the door rather than on him.

A moment was all he needed.

Jonathan could go straight to hell.

Jack took down the first guard in seconds with a roundhouse punch. The second followed his companion to the floor only moments later thanks to the proper use of pressure-points and martial arts. That was almost too easy.

"Remind me never to come here again," he told the prone bodies on the floor. Jack frisked the guards quickly, taking away the communication units and their blasters. The blasters he tucked into the waistband of his jeans. One of the comm units he destroyed while the other was slipped into a pocket. He might need to listen to the enemy's communications to find out where his friends were held. He tugged on the hem of the t-shirt - it really was too snug - and headed toward the door. Freedom.

Next up, find the Doctor and Rose. Anything else could come later.

He opened the door and carefully stepped outside. Clear. He'd try the interrogation rooms first, though he dreaded what he might find. He had to find the Doctor, and, perhaps, rescue him - no matter what. If he was wrong in assuming that the Doctor was free and his friend was still being 'interrogated,' he would never forgive himself for not trying to rescue him. And if the Doctor had been tortured, he wanted to spare Rose the sight. It would break her, and he could not do that to her. Better he find out first, then they could rescue Rose.

It was a plan.

That was, of course, until he found his arm caught by a slender hand. He stared at it, dumbfounded. How could he have been found out so soon? He had looked both directions. It was a rookie mistake to not keep an eye on his surroundings! That was when he noticed the hand had a ring - a very familiar ring. A ring that he had, in fact, given its owner twenty years previously as a token of friendship. "Evie?" he asked.

"Jack."

He turned to face the woman who, as his mother had desired, might have been Mrs. Jonathan Harkness. Her blonde hair was longer than he remembered, but her eyes were the same startling blue. "How...?"

She touched her fingers to his lips to encourage his silence. "There's no time. You've got to come with me."

There was only one place she could mean. She had done it. She had become part of the resistance. And the greatest irony of all was that if he had been forced to marry her as his mother had desired, the resistance would still have formed. Only with him as its leader. "The resistance?" he asked in a hushed tone.

Evelyn Troudeau nodded, dropping her fingers from his lips. "This way."

She set off at a smart pace with Jack following close behind.

Why was his mind drawing blanks? He always had a plan, or at least he was always able to make a good impression of having one. He knew what he was doing. He knew how things were supposed to go. However, no matter how much he knew - or pretended that he knew - it would not help them rescue Jack. There was, after all, only so much of the cocky Time Lord routine one could pull and still get away with it.

Then again that routine had worked for over nine hundred years. Why fix it when it wasn't broken? He shook his head slightly. These odd rambling thoughts were not getting him, or them, anywhere closer to a solution. While he trusted Jack to do his best, there were times when the best just wasn't good enough. That would be where he would come in. "Do you know what Elizabeth's routine is? Maybe while she's occupied, and Jack is, oh, locked up somewhere, we can mount a rescue?"

Harrison was about to reply when the door banged open. It was only the sound of Rose's shocked gasp that caused him to turn. But it was the expression on Jack's face that caused him to stop.

"Doctor," Jack said his name in a voice barely above a whisper. The other man blinked rapidly, as if he felt that he could not trust his eyes.

What could he...? Oh. He would not put it past Elizabeth Harkness to tell Jack that he had been tortured. Oh. Knowing Jack, he had probably imagined dozens of different scenarios - each one ending with some portion of his current body damaged or, even worse, leading to his next regeneration. To be truthful, he had worried briefly about that himself. He had yet to even wear in this body. To regenerate again, not to mention so soon after his last one, would be rather annoying.

"That's me!" he said brightly, though he could not disguise the relief in his voice. He had spent far too much time among humans. Their emotions tended to rub off rather quickly and quite thoroughly. He knew what Jack wanted. Or, at least, he knew what he would want in Jack's place. Seeing was not always believing, and for as tactile a person as Jack Harkness, to touch was to believe. No choice, really. It was the human thing to do.

Giving Rose's hand a brief squeeze, he released his grip upon her to cross the room. Two steps was all it took for him to be able to gather Jack into his arms. "Still me, still here," he told his friend. "An' you know what the best part of that is?"

Jack's arms wrapped around him, returning the hug with an almost desperate strength. "So're you," he completed.

The Doctor pulled away just enough so he could look at Jack. Just the hint of tears glimmered in the other man's eyes, and he gave him a reassuring smile. "Welcome back."

Before he could say anything else, or even invite Rose to join them in another hug, he felt lips upon his. The kiss was tentative - a far cry from anything he could have expected from the other man. It was more an expression of Jack's relief, coupled with a deeper emotion that the Doctor knew all too well. He knew that Jack expected nothing from him that he was not willing to give.

He knew what he wanted.

For a moment, even if it was but a moment, he returned the kiss. When they broke away from each other, he smiled gently. "Next time, I expect that drink."

Jack blinked in shock. "Next time?"

He settled for an enigmatic smile and pulled away, inviting Rose to take his place - which she did with reckless abandon. Rose and Jack kissed, and his smile widened.

This was more like it. This was how it was supposed to go. His companions, his family, were together again.

As it should be.

Suddenly, the worries of being stuck on Telurais with his megalomaniac mother seemed to belong to someone else. He felt rather detached from it all, and he owed that fact to two things. Or, rather, two people. The Doctor. Rose. The companions that he loved most in the universe, and they were together again. He had kissed the Doctor. The Doctor had kissed him back. Rose had kissed him. He had kissed her back. Such simple expressions of affection, and yet they had changed everything. He had kissed them before. However, that was a goodbye, a farewell given by a warrior who knew he was about to die. This was different. This was a kiss of life. He felt unstoppable. Unbeatable. If his mother walked into the room, he could laugh in her face. Show her, with the Doctor and Rose's help, just how wrong she had been all along. About him. About Telurais. About...

Oh.

Rose was still in his arms, but he was suddenly aware of their company. And not just any company. It was Harrison. Harrison Imelder, his first love, who had a rather knowing expression on his face. Surely he was not that transparent. Surely not.

"Harrison." Jack greeted him as he released Rose. Her hand trailed down his arm to grab his hand, entwining their fingers. How did she know what he needed? He had no idea what he felt upon seeing the other man again, especially not when he had Rose and the Doctor with him.

"Jack." Harrison's expression broke into a wide smile. "It's damn good to see you again."

He wasn't sure what he had expected as a response, but he was rather sure that that was not it. "It's good to see you, too." And, if he thought about it, it was. He had moved on after he had left Telurais. Harrison had become a fond memory, but as he looked into the other man's eyes, he could almost see the same thoughts running through Imelder's mind.

Jack released Rose's hand after giving it a squeeze. Harrison stepped forward at almost the same time he did and the two men embraced. There was only a fond affection in the embrace, nothing more.

"I'm happy for you," Harrison told him quietly, while they were still in the hug. "If anyone deserves happiness in this universe, it's you."

He smiled faintly, wanting to disagree. The one person that deserved happiness in his life - or lives - was wearing a pin-striped suit. Not him. Not Jack Harkness. He was just along for the ride. "Thanks," he finally said as they separated. "So, want to tell me what's going on?"

Evelyn responded in Harrison's stead, her tone bitter. "You never left Telurais, Jack. At least not according to your mother. Instead, you've either been 'sick' or off studying to be our next leader in one of the outposts."

Jack blinked before his eyes narrowed. "She turned me into the perfect son - in absentia."

Harrison nodded. "Exactly. And since you've returned, well, she's got the media in an uproar. Building you up, saying that you'll save the colony from dissension."

"Sorry, Jack, but your mum's a complete nutter." Rose shook her head in response.

He smiled faintly. "I happen to agree with you there, Rose. She's delusional."

The Doctor looked like he had an idea. An excited grin played about his face as he turned toward them. "I've got it!"

"What?" Rose asked suspiciously.

"Plan C. What's the best way to start a revolution? Anyone? Anyone?" The Time Lord looked expectantly at them but did not give them enough time to respond. "Simple. Show that the leader's lied. An' what's the biggest lie of them all?"

Understanding dawned. "That I've been here for the past twenty years."

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Give the man a prize!" The Doctor gestured dramatically as he spoke. "An' what's the best way to do that?"

Oh. He knew what the Doctor was getting at. He knew what the Doctor wanted. Jack just was not certain he could give him that. He had always hated public speeches. He was more of an action-oriented kind of guy. Give him a gun and ask him to rally a bunch of civvies into fighting against an unbeatable foe? He was your man. Ask him to change the minds of an entire colony? That was someone else.

However, as he looked at the faces of his friends he realised that there was no choice. He had to carry the fight against his mother to another level. He had to tell the truth and to do that he would have to speak. "I have to give a speech."

The Doctor beamed and for a moment he was reminded of a professor expressing pride in a prized student. The image was dashed away a moment later when he read the silent question in the Time Lord's gaze.

Could he do it?

Yes.

To be continued...