Chapter 10

Slightly after the main reading was concluded for the night, Nova managed to snare Cillian Murphy with a pinch of his shirt between her fingers, a broad smile, and a crooked finger. The security with her followed obediently, but were looking forward to finally hearing what had the redhead so excited since the day before.

Murphy was confused, but polite. "May I help you?"

Nova blinked, momentarily flummoxed. Then she blushed hotly in embarrassment. "Oh Rassilon! I'm so sorry. I was so focused on asking you that I forgot you don't know me or anything and this is probably the worst first impression ever and I probably messed it all up and—"

The man was grinning just as much as her security by this point, who were incredibly startled – not that they showed it to the stranger in their midst. They had never seen the girl act so…girl-ish before. Almost as if she had a crush…? Hmmm…this bore repeating to Altamont and Gatiss.

Cillian smiled at her gently, trying to calm down the obviously genuine woman. "It's alright. I don't mind. What did you want to ask me?"

Nova took a deep breath, trying to get a hold on herself. Her mind had been swimming with the idea for almost 24 hours. The thought that it might not happen because she had been rude was quite distressing. "I'm sorry. I'm Nova Morganson."

"Oh yes!" Murphy nodded, now understanding. He had been told that Morganson and Thomas lived together and helped each other with almost every aspect of writing and production. He supposed he was seeing one of the effects of such close-knit communication. Sometimes, they forgot they hadn't communicated with others. It was quite amusing, really. "They told me that you may have a role for me?"

Nova smiled, back on even footing, and nodded. "Yes. Sara said that you really don't want to be typecast." He nodded in return. "Well, there is one role I have that I haven't been able to give yet. It's really different from your others, so it'll blow the whole typecast thing out of the water…if you can pull it off." She gave a sigh. "It's been so hard to fill. I've only found one that can do it so far, but he said that the cameras make him nervous and refused."

"Well, now you've got me intrigued." His grin widened. "What's the role?"

"It's for Captain Jack Harkness. He's a roguish swindler in the beginning and then flips to the good side and travels with the Doctor and Rose for a bit before he can't anymore."

He nodded thoughtfully. "I've done such roles before. Walk the fine line between evil and good. More neutral is definitely a good thing for me at the moment. More what I'm looking for instead of the pure blackheart of Moriarty."

"Well," she hedged, "the other part is that Jack is a notorious, outrageous flirt. He flirts with anything and everything. I've never seen you do a role like that before." She gestured with her hands imploringly, asking him if it was possible.

He frowned slightly, knowing she was right. He had never done something quite so blatant before. He was better at more subtly. "Can you give me an example?"

Nova nodded quickly, turned around and picked up a manuscript, already open to the correct page to show him. She pointed. "Here. See? In the beginning, when he's a con-artist, he uses the flirting two-fold as a tool to catch people off guard and to distract. After he joins with the Doctor he flirts because he likes it and it's a habit. But he flirts like he breathes. Even when he introduces himself." She flipped a few pages and pointed again to let him read the correct portions.

"Hmmm…" he pondered for several minutes, just reading.

She waited anxiously. If he could pull it off, she thought he would be wonderful at it. And it certainly was out of his comfort zone, thus help eliminate his fear of being typecast. Because she was watching him, waiting for a either 'yes', 'no', or 'maybe', she saw it in his eyes and face when they…changed. It was almost as if he wiped his face clean so that he could put a different expression – someone else's expression – on it. Him trying to get into the role, she assumed.

His deep ocean-blue eye pulled up from the pages and looked directly into hers. Held her own eyes for long moments. His head tilted slightly to the left and his mouth quirked to the right, making him look both balanced and boyish at the same time. His eyes flicked down momentarily, read a line, and bounced back up into hers almost before she noticed the movement. "Captain Jack Harkness." He stated, introducing 'himself'.

The intonation made her giggle, breaking the spell he had put her under. "Not quite, but not bad either." She praised. "Best so far given that you've only had the papers for…what? ten minutes?"

"I'll go home tonight and see if I can do better tomorrow. I'm definitely interested in trying." He grinned at her.

She pointed at his face at the image. "That one! That grin! Try that one, with that little tilt of your head from before, and go again." He froze, but was definitely a professional, and obediently did as she asked. She nodded. "Much better. I think what's getting you at the moment isn't facial expression, but tonality. It doesn't sound like your heart is in it, if that makes any sense."

He nodded, "Makes perfect sense to me. I usually have a lot more time to prepare for my parts. I like doing research…who is this man that's afraid of the cameras? Maybe I'll find him, listen to him for a while, and see what I can pull out for you tomorrow."

"John Barrowman. He's our technical analyst. And yeah. You stand still long enough; he'll flirt with you. Sheesh, he'll flirt with anything that breathes." She shook her head in good-natured humor.

"Even a time-travelling alien?" Cillian asked with another grin.

She was surprised at how much the man liked to smile, but it looked good on him so she certainly wasn't about to protest. "Especially a time-travelling alien. Jack's a Time Agent himself. Time-travel isn't that big a thing to him."

"Ahhh…well, thank you very much for the offer. I'll pop in tomorrow to see if I can introduce myself properly and we'll go from there."

"Sounds wonderful!" She blushed again, "And thanks for not thinking too badly of me for the way I approached you. I'm not usually so awkward."

He laughed. "It's fine. You were pretty tame in comparison to some of my fans." With that parting comment, he left and went back to the reading room of the Sherlock group to grab his things before heading home.

Her guard softly said, "You like him."

Nova sighed forlornly. "He's certainly more likable in person than some of these actors that come through. But no…not really. Besides, even if I did…" she shrugged again with a very sad look in her periwinkle eyes. …what man would want me? She didn't say it, but the thought was loud in her mind. What with the TNA/DNA thing. The assassination attempts. The Doctor looming over so much. Her dreams. The list of why she was undesirable as a long-term partner was long. She doubted she would ever finally get far enough with a man to lose her virginity, let alone something more serious like marriage or children. It didn't mean she didn't sincerely want those things, but she was incredibly practical and knew that the chances were slim to none. None being far more likely.

She was shaken from her thoughts by a loud BOOM! Echoing through the building. She felt it with her feet and body as the whole building momentarily shook. Even the glass in the windows. By the time her mind processed the information, she had been thrown to the ground by the nearest security agent, the other still on their feet, gun drawn with safety off as eyes roamed for danger. "Report!" was barked into the radio.

Ten extremely tense seconds later came the reply, "Bombing on the London Underground. Multiple injuries, no fatalities reported thus far."

Her guard detail relaxed from position, once they knew that the threat wasn't in the immediate vicinity to their charges. Not too long afterward, Jack appeared in the doorway, Sara beside him, her security behind him. "I think it's time to relax and have a few drinks!" he gustowed. "Especially since I'm apparently going to be coaching someone on how to be me tomorrow morning."

Nova blinked at that as she gathered her things. "He asked you already?"

"Yup. Caught me as I was going down the hall and practically pounced. Apparently, he's more eager to get out of his typecasting predicament than we thought. That or he found your claim of it not being quite right as a challenge. He wanted me to flirt with him right there! Not that I minded of course." He gave his standard roguish grin. "Not everyday that I have those sorts of conversations though. 'Hey flirt with me!' isn't a standard greeting for this century."

Both girls laughed, which had been part of his goal. Sara more so, "You offered him Jack? I was thinking Ten or something."

"Ten's kinda aggressive sometimes. I thought he'd like the role of Jack better, since you mentioned 'neutral' as a quality he was looking for." Nova disagreed. "So, where are we going?"

"With a bombing? We're going to the townhouse." Jack's voice suggested it was obvious. "However, I was thinking we could stop by and get some ginger ale on the way." He wiggled his eyebrows at both girls.

"Why Mr. Barrowman! Are you trying to get us drunk?" Sara exclaimed in mock-horror as they made their way to the waiting vehicle.

"Absolutely! Then you can take advantage of me in my weakened state." He said with a suggestive laugh and eyebrow-wiggle. The girls, of course, broke into peals of laughter. Which had also been a goal of his.

On their way out, they once again ran into Cillian and somehow, though Nova wasn't quite sure how, the now four-person group found themselves at a pub just around the corner only taking brief glances at the news to find that fortunately, the bomb that hit the Underground, while causing a lot of damage, the injuries weren't as bad as they could be. For one thing, it was after 11:00 PM. The Underground was shut down for the night. Injuries were limited to pedestrians hit by some fallen debris. No casualties were to be expected.

"Thank God." Sara muttered, sipping her drink that was partially of her own creation. Ginger beer and Jameson whiskey as to appeal to their new Irish cast member. Jameson being an Irish whiskey. Already, she felt nice and the brothers didn't insist on joining them. At least not directly in view. They to an extent trusted Jack as an adequate guard. Of course some security lingered outside but it gave the illusion of normalcy and such a thing was nice. "It could have been worse."

"Seems rather isolated." Jack muttered. "Might be just your run of the mill domestic bombings."

"Maybe they planted bombs in a train car and we had to go down there to flip the off switch in time."

Murphy gave a low chuckle. "I don't believe that is how bombs work."

"I know." Sara said to him. "Silly joke from a bad movie I saw."

"I hope not one of mine." He verified.

"Of course not." Sara grinned. "I loved your movies. Each and every one. I think you're brilliant. Batman Begins, Sunlight, Inception, Red Light...oh and Red Eye. And despite what you think, you were more aligned as the anti-hero than villain in that thriller, in my opinion."

"You believe so." Murphy raised his eyebrows.

"I know so, which is why I know you're perfectly capable of playing Jack Harkness. You were able to flirt with the character Lisa Reisert. You can manage it with Rose, the Doctor, Martha and well…." She shrugged. "I really wish I had an anti-hero role for you to play but I thought having the opportunity to do a villain in one and a more classical protagonist in the other, that shows flexibility." She paused. "I also enjoyed your role in 'In Time'. Tell me, was that story based at all on Les Miserables? I kept thinking your character reminded me of the tragic role of Javert."

"Actually, those were my thoughts too." He was sipping from his whiskey glass. "Which is why it appealed to me."

"So," Nova started. "Let's see what you got, in terms of flirtation."

"And to whom should I be directing my attentions?"

Nova thought for a moment. Although she was ever-so-tempted to say herself, she might find herself a bit distracted. It might be beneficial for her first to analyze how he did the role play with Sara. Besides, while Sara's attitude was friendly, she had an instinct that Murphy wasn't her type.

The server had just come to the table to ask for refills. "Oh something different this time." Sara said, feeling the buzz from the alcohol. "I think I would like-"

"Oh allow me, if I may guess." Immediately Murphy had slipped into his smoother and charming tone. "I have a particular talent in this area."

"Oh you do, do you?" Sara giggled. "Go ahead."

"I'm sensing something sweet for this round." He started thoughtfully. "Perhaps cranberries…." He saw Sara tilt her head. "No, far too common. The fruit is ordinary, isn't it?"

Sara gave a small shrug.

"No, a girl like you has something more interesting in mind. You want something out of the ordinary, more complex than the cherry, with just the right balance. The subtly of the orange." He paused, glancing at the server. "A pomegranate cosmo."

She laughed. "That was remarkably dead on." Sara told him. "And I thought it was just a scene from Red Eye."

"On the contrary, I studied quite a bit on bartending."

"Smooth." Nova nodded, impressed. "Very smooth. Jack, what do you think?"

"It's not bad." He assessed strategically. "But can you dance? Anyone that has similarities to me, needs to be able to dance."

"Ah, well then," he stood, offering his hand to Nova. "May I have this dance?"

If Sara didn't know any better, she would think her friend was blushing. "Oh why not?" Nova said. "It's all good business." The couple got up and moved to the dance floor as Sara simply watched the two.

"She likes him." Sara nodded. "She might deny it but I can tell. I haven't seen her smile like that in a while."

"And you?" Jack asked. "What will it take for you to smile?"

"Well, not to feel this impending dread hang over my head at every single instance." Sara's voice was briefly forlorn. "Other than that….I don't know." Her drink came and she felt more and more relaxed, leaning back in her chair and rocking slightly.

"You know, you never said, your ideas for the books, where did they come from? Do you dream like Nova?"

"I dream but no, not like her." She sighed. "But well, simpler explanation. Told you the truth, you never believe me."

"Oh, I don't know. I've seen a lot, Sara. It would take a great deal for me to doubt any explanation you gave. So try me. What could it hurt? Worst comes to worst, we're both pretty wasted anyway right?"

"Wasted….yes." Sara muttered. "Nova told me not to tell anyone. Not the brothers. Think I'm insane."

"But I'm not the brothers. I won't think you're insane. You know me." Jack attested.

"Oh, alright." Sara sighed. "But you can't laugh." She said to him. "Promise you won't laugh."

"I swear."

"I come from another dimension."

Well, that wasn't much of a revelation. They all had ascertained that much when the girls seemed to appear out of thin air. "Well, that much I believe." Jack said.

"But Nova and I didn't come from the same dimension." Sara said, swirling her glass. "Cause, you see, in my dimension, this was a show."

He paused, freezing momentarily. "A show?"

"Oh yes. Wasn't a show for Nova but for me, the Doctor and Sherlock Holmes were already on television. It's why I could help Nova write the books. All….eight seasons or something were on air. With Sherlock I saw three and change. It's how I recognized you by your faces." She yawned. "But, shh, don't tell anyone. It's a secret. You like secrets don't you Jack?"

"I'm sure he enjoys them tremendously." A familiar voice echoed behind them and Sara cringed. John. Well, oops. This was kind of bad. "But it isn't a secret he can afford to keep from me. Ms. Thomas, you need to explain everything."

"Then it wouldn't be much of a secret anymore!" Sara protested, grabbing Jack's hand. 'And I'm tired of playing by the rules. It's too hot in here." In a dash, she barely skirted under John's arm and ran out the front door, across the street to Hyde Park.

"Where are we going?" Jack asked at this sudden change of venue.

"Swimming. In the lake. It'll be fun." She suddenly plunged into the invariably cold water. She had already started to swim out to the middle, only to gasp when she was suddenly face to face with….she didn't know. She couldn't see. But suddenly a murky mist enveloped her face. Right then, she started screaming. It was the Valeyard. Coming directly towards her, to drag her to his ship. His prison.

"I know who you are Sara. And I'm coming. With you and Nova, we'll watch the entire world burn together."

"No!" She started to scream.

Distantly she heard Jack's voice behind her.

"And then after that, the universe. We'll be the only one's left, just as it should be. I destroyed both your universes before…." He sneered. "I'll do it again."

"Nova!" She screamed. "He's coming! You can't let him come. You can't!"

A pair of arms seized her from behind. She screamed louder and fought against them as they pulled her out of the water.

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