Chapter 10: An Ungrateful Nation

He wasn't certain whether to be insulted or flattered. It'd been a long time since he'd last been public enemy number one on a world other than Skaro – which didn't count, since it was gone – or Mondas – same – or Sontar. And, well, he couldn't exactly call the United Kingdom the world. Especially since, as far as he knew, he was still in the good graces of UNIT.

So, Torchwood wanted him. Well, too bad, they couldn't have him. Just meant he'd have to be a bit more careful from here on out. Then again, he was enough of a pragmatist to realise that he would do nothing of the sort.

"From me? From me! Ha! Since when has the United Kingdom needed protecting from me?" If anything, he was the one doing the protecting. The Doctor – Defender of the Earth. Well, it sounded a bit camp – and a tad too superheroish for him – but it worked. That still didn't answer why he was suddenly at the top of England's most wanted.

Gwen answered in Jack's stead. "Since you apparently made a rather unfavourable impression on Queen Victoria."

Unfavourable…oh. Oh. At least that explained the name. "Ah. That."

"So Torchwood is after the Doctor because Queen Victoria decided she didn't like him?" Rose asked incredulously.

"From what I can tell, it's because she didn't like what he represented. She created Torchwood to protect her kingdom from the paranormal, the strange, or the extraterrestrial," Jack said. "The Doctor just jumpstarted the entire process."

He wouldn't ask if Jack was going to turn him in. He knew that it wouldn't happen. Or, at least, he hoped it wouldn't. They'd been through too much together. Before Satellite Five and after – here, with Rose.

He stole a glance at her as she leaned forward, bracing her elbows against her knees. He couldn't help himself as he reached over to grab her hand, needing to feel her human warmth– she's alive – again. "What do they want with my TARDIS?"

"At a guess? First they'd want it as bait to get you. Then they'd want to study it, perhaps dismantle-"

He interrupted Gwen's explanation with an astonished gasp. "Dismantle it? Dismantle! They can certainly try, but they would never, ever succeed." They could hurt her, though. Oh, yes, they could hurt her. But if it got to be too much, she would dematerialise to heal. Unless she thought he was in danger too...

Ah. Now he could see just how diabolically clever these Torchwood people were. But, if they'd been around since Queen Victoria… There was a stint of time when he'd been trapped on Earth, wings clipped, and TARDIS fettered. Why hadn't they tried anything then?

"Why now? I've been on Earth time and time again, yet I've never heard of Torchwood," he asked.

"UNIT protected you, Doctor. Best they could, best they knew how. And Torchwood agreed to let you be while you were in their employ," Jack explained.

Good old Brigadier. "Ah. Yes, that would make sense. When will our friends from London arrive?"

Gwen glanced at her watch. "Earliest is forty minutes from now, latest an hour and a half."

"Does the bed and breakfast have a shed?" Jack asked again.

He searched his memory. During the early hours that he'd spent watching the coming dawn such a long (and short) time ago, he recalled spotting something of that nature through the window. "I think...yes. Yes it does." However, he didn't want to involve Evelyn in this mess. She had enough...

Evelyn. Oh, no. He'd still have to do something about her niece. Find out who'd bit her, see if there wasn't something else that he could do to save her. And, best place to find that out would be in the hostel.

"Right," Jack said and flipped on the indicator. "Gwen, call Toshiko. Tell her to move the TARDIS to the bed and breakfast. Have her get Chris, Chang, and Owen to help."

The car sped through the streets of Cardiff as Gwen dialled her mobile. "How well do you know Ms Smythe, Doctor?" Jack asked quietly, trying not to drown out Gwen's conversation.

"Oh, you could say that I know her rather well indeed. She travelled with me for a time when I had a rather bad taste in coats." He couldn't keep the fondness out of his voice.

"Good," Jack replied, apparently satisfied. He couldn't blame the former Time Agent. He'd be worried too. Dragging an old Type-40 into a shed in the back garden of someone you don't know wasn't exactly the best of plans. Then again, neither was endangering that same someone by merely being in the vicinity.

Gwen shut her mobile with a snap. "Twenty minutes," she reported.

"For the blokes from London to get here? Or for the TARDIS to get to Evelyn's?" Rose asked.

"Yes."

That was informative. Not to mention soon. Very soon. Well, he always worked best when faced with a deadline.

Jack fought the urge to sigh. It felt as if he were in the midst of an unravelling web, clinging to the strands of his life as they fell apart around him. This, he remembered, was what travelling with the Doctor was like. There were no constants, nothing to count on other than his friends.

He grasped the steering wheel tightly, causing his knuckles to turn white from the strength of his grip. He was worried. Not about the Doctor – not really – but about London, and what might happen. What ifs were killers, he well knew, but he couldn't help himself. He knew London's reputation, especially the fanatic in charge. If she got her hands on the Doctor and the TARDIS...

No. He wouldn't even think of that. All he had to do was to keep his charges safe for twenty-four hours. They'd just have to lay low for a while, which shouldn't be too difficult. Problem was that by disappearing for that amount of time, he'd automatically find himself under Torchwood's intense scrutiny. Though he'd managed to hide or erase his presence in Cardiff during the Blon Fel Fotch escapade, someone might've managed to save some type of evidence of his association with the Doctor. The Cardiff branch might not care, but London was something entirely different.

Great. Wonderful. Just meant he'd have to start again. Somewhere, somehow. Now that he'd seen the Doctor again, seen Rose, he was starting to think. Before, he couldn't see a future wherein he'd return to the TARDIS. Now, he dared to imagine the possibility. Back on the time ship, travelling through time and space, with the two people he loved most in the universe. It would be idyllic, perfect, and completely impossible.

Even if he wanted to go back, he couldn't. He'd been gone too long, done too much in the interim. The best he could hope for was to impose upon the Time Lord, ask him for a quick lift to somewhere he could get his hands on a new ship.

No. He wouldn't do that. It was too much like begging. Despite everything that had happened, he couldn't.

Some wounds couldn't heal by anything other than time. And that was a precious commodity that they had little of.

When he slowed to a stop just in front of the hostel some five minutes later, he was no closer to a decision on what he should do for his future than before. Best choice was to focus on the here and now and deal with what came next when it happened.

"Gwen, I'm going to need you to get back to the office," he said as he shifted the vehicle to park. There wasn't enough time for a proper goodbye not really. He was pragmatic enough to realise that this would probably be the last time he saw her. There were only two ways out of this particular situation that he could see – he'd either be dead or on the run from Torchwood. Neither of which leant to keeping in touch with friends. Right here, right now, the Jack Harkness that was a part of the Cardiff branch of Torchwood was dead, gone, and buried. There was just Captain Jack now.

He knew exactly what he'd do. If London came after the Doctor, he'd protect them. Protect them, no matter what. He'd already died once for him and he wouldn't regret doing it again.

Gwen nodded. "I was planning on it. I know you, Jack. You're not going to let them " - she nodded to the two in the backseat - "out of your sight. You need intel. I'll call you with updates. Get out of here, the lot of you. We can't stay stationary for long, Torchwood can track this car."

Shit, that was right. He'd almost forgotten that particular feature. No time at all. The Doctor and Rose were already climbing out of the car and he did the same, watching as Gwen slid across the seat to take his place.

She smiled sadly, reaching out to touch his hand briefly. "Good luck. And Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"See you in hell." She pulled the door shut and pulled away from the curb before he could formulate a response.

He was going to miss her. With a brief sigh, he turned and flashed a blinding smile at Rose and the Doctor. However, he knew that they'd seen right through him. There was no true emotion behind that smile. It was another facet of a perfectly carved mask – a mask that only they knew how to break. They were worried about him, but there was no reason to be. It was a fact of his life. Either he left or the people he loved left him.

He just had to survive the aftermath.

She wasn't fooled by Jack's smile. She had caught a glimpse of the expression on his face the instant before his mask had slipped back into place. It was the same look he'd worn on Satellite Five, just before he'd kissed her and the Doctor goodbye. It was déjà vu and her heart broke for him.

She wondered what thoughts were going through his head. Was he planning on coming with them when they left? Of course he was. He had to. There'd been a Jack-sized hole in her life – no, she amended, their lives - since he'd been gone. Dead, or so she'd originally thought.

But he was here. With them. And he had to come home, back to them. She didn't want to think of the alternative. She'd only just found him again. She wasn't ready to lose him, not yet, not ever. Her lips still tingled from the memory of the kiss that they'd shared and, she admitted to herself, she wanted more. More from Jack and - she stole a glance at the Doctor - from the Time Lord.

If wishes were horses...

Jack crossed the distance between them quickly and nodded toward the door. "We can't stay out here for long. I haven't ordered surveillance on this place, but that doesn't mean someone else hasn't."

The Doctor nodded after shooting their friend a concerned glance. He, too, had seen behind the mask. But, like her, he probably wasn't certain what to do about it. They approached the door, but before he could do more than lift his hand the door swung open. Vaguely, she wondered if Evelyn was psychic.

"Doctor! Rose! Oh, you're back! I was terribly worried, you know. Sneaking off like that, without even leaving me a note!" Evelyn scolded. She paused for a long moment, apparently taking in their startled expressions before she smiled and stepped away from the door, gesturing for them to enter. "Well, don't just stand out there, come in! There's some hot cocoa warming on the stove. It's just the right touch for a story, don't you think? And I can tell you have a good one."

"Doctor Evelyn Smythe, I'd like to introduce you to-" the Doctor began, but Jack cut him off.

"Captain Jack Harkness, ma'am," Jack introduced himself, kissing the back of Evelyn's hand. Though it was a classic action on his part, something that she'd seen dozens of times, she knew his heart wasn't in it. He was going through the motions, but she couldn't tell why.

Evelyn shook her head, swatting at him. "Such a charmer. I'm retired now, Doctor. Call me Evelyn. Now come in, please." The older woman ushered them into the sitting room and, after brushing off her offer to help, bustled to the kitchen to pour them mugs of hot cocoa.

"Doctor?" Jack asked from one of the solitary chairs in the room. That he didn't sit next to them on the sofa was just as telling as his earlier expression. What on Earth was wrong with him? It was almost as if he were distancing himself on purpose, like he was expecting...

Oh. Oh. She could fill it in. Like he was expecting to be left behind. Distancing himself because he hoped it would hurt less. God, what had happened to him? Why was he expecting the worst? She longed to go to him, give him a comforting hug, kiss him, anything; but she could tell that it would do little good.

"Evelyn can keep a secret," the Doctor said, apparently in answer to an unspoken question.

"I should say so!" Evelyn said as she returned with steaming mugs of cocoa on a tray. She passed them out before claiming the last and taking a seat in the last free chair. "Or should I mention something about your singing prowess on the open sea?"

"No, no that won't be necessary," the Time Lord said quickly, looking rather guilty. "Right. Evelyn..."

Evelyn shook her head, holding up a hand. "Before you begin, though, Doctor, I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me? Whatever for?" he asked, confused.

"For my niece, of course. She's fine! Just popped out shopping, feeling right as rain. I haven't seen her that chipper since she was five years old, to tell you the truth."

"Oh, of course! Those vampires that Jack and Gwen killed – one of them must've been the one that bit Victoria." The Doctor's nose crinkled as he shook his head. "Convenient, that. Well, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. At least, I think that's how that particular saying goes."

Evelyn smiled and turned to her. "Tell me, Rose. Does he still go on rants about random things? Toothpaste, jelly babies, the price of tea in China?"

She grinned. "Oh, all the time."

"Oi! If you want your story, Evelyn…" he warned, shaking his finger.

"All right, all right. Go on then, story time." Evelyn took a sip of her cocoa and looked expectantly at all of them.

"Where to start? Ah, yes. The beginning. We're near the end, you see, and I find it best to start stories with the line 'Once upon a vortex.' What? Oh, all right. It started such a short and a long time ago with a violent tremor…"

The TARDIS had arrived and was safely hidden in the old garden shed behind the hostel long before he had finished telling Evelyn what had happened to them. Several times Jack or Rose would fill in the bits that he didn't know since he had apparently spent an almost embarrassing amount of time unconscious over the past few days. Admittedly he had an excuse, but he preferred not to avail himself of it.

"Problem is now I'm being hunted. Not by aliens or anything of that sort – at least, not that I know of - but by Torchwood. I don't want to bring you into this, Evelyn, but we're out of options. We can't leave because there's nowhere for us to go. We can't travel inconspicuously with the TARDIS until she's finished her repairs. We've got eighteen hours to go before we can leave."

Evelyn shook her head. "Nonsense, Doctor. You're not bringing me into this, I'm volunteering. Of course you can stay for as long as you like."

"The London office isn't known for its compassion," Jack warned. "If they realise that we're here, nothing can stop them." That worried him. Ruthlessness was not a trait he admired in the human species.

He knew that Evelyn could handle herself and whatever sort of situation she came across with ease. Though she was older, she still had the same spark within her that had led her to travel with him. She'd be fine. He hoped.

Right. Enough of that.

Evelyn laughed and began to gather the empty mugs. "You might think this as terribly overconfident, but I'd like to see them try to get in here. I'll do everything I can to keep you, all of you, safe. I'll see to the sleeping arrangements. I'm afraid that you'll have to share your room with Jack, Doctor. I don't have enough room to house each of you separately tonight."

He caught Jack's slight wince and wondered about it. He knew that something was wrong, but what?

"That's fine," Jack replied, giving her a winning smile. The expression was false, just as much as his words were.

"Feel free to get anything out of the kitchen should you need it." With those words, Evelyn left the room.

"Jack, what's wrong?" Rose asked before he had the chance. "An' don't say nothin'. 'Cause it's not."

Jack looked stunned, almost as if he hadn't expected his charade to be discovered. However, he visibly deflated and shrugged. "I'm thinking about the future."

"Ah, yes, the future. Always a worthwhile subject to ponder. Except, of course, for when it isn't," he said, leaning forward to brace his elbows on his knees. He was hurt to note that Jack's posture changed in response to his as the former Time Agent leaned back into his chair.

He sighed and continued, "I know that this has put you in a difficult position, Jack. If Torchwood finds that you've helped us..."

"They'll arrest me," Jack stated flatly, almost as if he were reading his death sentence. "And, knowing London, they'll throw away the key."

"So what're you going to do?" Rose asked. His hearts leapt into his throat as he waited for the answer. Surely he knew what options he had. No, he corrected himself, it wasn't an option. It was a necessity. A fact.

Jack shook his head. "Only one choice, really. I'll have to disappear. Start a new life somewhere else. Done it before. Can do it again. After that, it's just a matter of survival."

One choice? The words stung, though he knew they shouldn't. Didn't Jack know how he felt? Didn't he know that he was always welcome to come back home? No, wait. Probably not. He hadn't exactly been forthcoming, had he? More subtextual. "One choice? One! Jack, didn't you realise? You do have another choice. You always have."

"I do?" he asked, surprised.

What had he done to cause such doubt? Where had he gone wrong? "Of course you do! You can come with us. Back to the TARDIS, same old life. Well, sort of. We've changed, after all. New Jack. New Rose. New, new Doctor. I have smaller ears for one thing and I am rather fond of the hair. So, what do you say?"

His friend gaped at him in astonishment. However, before he could reply, the sharp trill of a mobile interrupted the conversation. The former Time Agent fumbled for the phone and flipped it open, answering with a terse, "Yeah?"

Jack's expression was fluid as he listened to the phone, varying from anger to astonishment to dismay. He knew it was bad news before the conversation had ended.

The other man's announcement only confirmed it. "They're coming."

To be continued...