Quick announcement: because Thanksgiving is this upcoming week, I'm posting this early. I'll also be posting the final chapter and the epilogue tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers out there!
2010
Date: January 3
Jenny nervously tightened the bow she'd just tied around the present she had to give to Mara. It was something she'd made long ago with the intention of giving it to her sister once she was old enough. Their dad had given Jenny one of her own not long before they'd gone to the 52nd century to save Mara and her mum, and Jenny wanted to continue the tradition. So, she'd broken their strict rules on no contact besides emergencies and called out to her dad to get the code for the software. He'd given it to her gladly, and had even helped her on a few design points for the casing.
"Good morning!" Jenny crowed when Mara finally emerged from her room.
Mara blinked the last bits of sleepiness from her eyes, and smiled at her brightly. "What's this?" she asked, and nodded towards the gift.
Jenny shrugged. "Oh, just a little something for your birthday." She handed her the box. "Go ahead and open it."
She could feel Mara's excited anticipation as she tore the paper wrapping off of her gift and slowly opened the lid. Her eyes went wide when she saw what was inside.
She looked up at Jenny. "Did you make it?"
Jenny nodded. "Dad made me one, and I wanted to carry on the tradition. You could say that receiving your first sonic is sort of a rite of passage in our family."
Mara gingerly ran her fingers along the silver casing. "Are those…is that Gallifreyan writing?"
"It's all four of our names with the inscription "Family means forever" attached." Jenny bounced on the balls of her feet. "Go on, try it out. Just don't cause any fires, yeah?"
Mara chuckled, and lifted her new screwdriver from its box. She pressed a couple of the buttons, and laughed with delight when the purple light shone. "It's perfect," she said, and placed it back in its box before she ran over to hug Jenny. "Thank you."
Jenny gave her a short squeeze before she released her. "You're welcome, little one."
Date: May 10
Jenny pulled in a breath all the way down to her toes. Today was going to be hard.
She had decided not long after Mara's birthday that she was going to quit her job at Torchwood. At least for the last year she would have with Mara on Earth. She had known this day would come eventually, of course. Their time on Earth had always been temporary—she'd known they're deadline the moment they'd landed here. And for years she'd been okay with that. She just hadn't expected to make friends. At least, not ones she cared for so deeply.
"Jack?" Her voice echoed out into an empty hub. "Tosh? Ianto? Anyone here?" She glanced around, and heaved a sigh before she dropped her bag into her desk chair. She looked over the latest readings on the rift, and squinted when she was met with a post-it that read "Conference room".
She was immediately suspicious, but did as it said.
Jenny grumbled when she walked into a dark room. "Owen, if this is another one of your pranks, I swear to Rassilon, I'll—"
"Surprise!"
Her hand flew to her hearts when the members of her team all jumped out from behind the far end table. Now that the lights were on, she could see the pile of gifts and the food laid out under a large banner that said "Happy Birthday!"
"What is all this?" she asked.
"I was doing some paperwork, and I found your birthday in your file," Gwen said as she handed her a plate of pizza. "With your stubbornness I'm surprised more of us hadn't figured out you're a Taurus."
Jenny blinked as she tried to process what was being said to her. "I put my birthday down as May 10?"
Tosh quirked an eyebrow. "Wait; May 10th isn't your birthday?"
She shrugged. "Well I didn't know when my birthday was when I was filling out the personnel file, so I just picked a random date. May sounded nice."
"It doesn't matter," Jack said, and came to give her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. "Happy birthday, Jenny!"
Jenny's hearts fell to the floor, but she forced herself to give them all a bright smile. "Thank you!"
It was later, once the festivities had died down, that she finally got Jack alone.
She closed his office door and took in a deep breath before she turned to face him. He leaned against his desk and crossed his arms. "What's going on, Jen?"
She let out her breath slowly. "I meant to tell you this earlier, but everyone was so happy I just didn't have the heart to do it."
Jack's brow crinkled with worry as he pushed himself away from his desk. "Whoa, what's wrong? Is it Mara? Is it the Angels? Did they find you? Your dad?"
"No, no, nothing like that," she assured him. "Everyone is fine, we're all safe. The Angels still haven't found us yet."
He let out a breath of relief. "You had me worried for a second there, Jen." His smile faded when he caught sight of her expression, and she saw it when it all clicked for him. "Oh."
She pursed her lips. "I just…I don't want to spend my last year on Earth with Mara chasing after aliens and worrying about whether or not I'm going to regenerate while I'm doing it. That, and I know that once I send her away the Angels will capture her, and I don't know when I'll see her or our mum again." She took his hand. "I want one chance to do domestic properly before life starts for us again."
He searched her face for a moment, and then brought her hand to his heart. "You'll always have a home here."
She smiled at him. "I'm counting on that."
He kissed the tops of her fingers and pulled her in for a hug. "I'm going to miss you, Tyler. Both of you."
Jenny laughed. "Well if you ever need a consult, you know how to find me." She stepped back and handed him a slip of paper with the number for the TARDIS. "Call dad." She tapped her temple. "And even if I'm not with him, I'll come running."
Jack grinned, and stuck the paper into his pocket. He straightened up then and gave her a salute. "It's been an honor, Tyler."
She snorted, and gave him a mock salute back. "And don't you forget it, Harkness."
He chuckled as she turned to leave. "What do you want me to tell the others?"
Her eyes slid over to where the rest of the team was busily working. She swallowed down hard, and then grinned at him over her shoulder. "Tell them I have a lot of running to do. Tell them this is just goodbye for now."
Jack nodded, and she slipped quietly out of the hub without another word to anyone.
Date: November 2
The moment Jenny felt Mara's fear, she was wide awake.
She quickly jumped out of bed and marched out to the lounge. She paced for a moment before she settled into the armchair. No sooner had she sat down, when Mara burst through the front door.
Jenny immediately jumped up from her chair. "Where have you been—?" She stopped. She had been about to continue scolding her sister, but instead caught sight of the look in Mara's eyes.
"I remember," her sister said in a low voice.
All of the nervous energy in Jenny's limbs drained then, and she let out a heavy sigh. She didn't want to go through this yet again. "Mara…"
Her sister held up a hand to stop her. "No. I get it. I understand why you couldn't tell me. Dad explained it all, and I understand."
Jenny stepped forward then. "So you know what I have to do."
Mara nodded, but the calm that Jenny could sense in her sister left her unsettled. "But this time," Mara said slowly before she pulled in a breath. "This time you have to take it all. The Misfits, the mansion…even Nathan," she said. "I can't remember them, or I'll go looking."
Jenny's hearts broke. She knew what would happen if she had to erase that much of Mara's memories. It would leave her sister incapable of caring for herself. She stepped closer to delicately cup Mara's cheeks in her hands. "I'm so sorry sister," she whispered, and sent her as much support as she could muster.
She wanted to cry when she saw tears on Mara's cheeks. "I know, and it's okay. Please just do it, Jenny."
Jenny carefully placed her fingers along Mara's temples. "This won't hurt, I promise."
Mara nodded, and closed her eyes. Jenny gulped down her guilt for allowing this to happen, and kissed her sister's forehead.
"Before you do this," Mara whispered. "I'm sorry. For the way I've acted."
Jenny's hearts broke under her sister's words, but she chuckled to keep Mara from learning the truth of what she felt. "Sleep," she murmured.
She caught Mara as her sister slipped into unconsciousness, and carefully lowered her to the floor.
Date: November 8
Jenny was unsurprised to open the door to find Mara's boyfriend, Nathan, on the other side.
She sighed wearily. This was the third time he'd stopped by. "You can't come round like this anymore, Nathan. She doesn't know who you are. It just upsets her." She wished she had a better excuse to ward him off, but she couldn't very well tell him that if Mara were to see him it would cause her mind to start to burn.
"Is she any better?"
"Nathan—"
The boy held up a hand. "No, I know, but is she having a good day?"
Jenny bit her lip, but nodded. "She could remember her name today."
"So, she's improving." The hope in his voice broke her hearts.
She glanced back towards Mara's bedroom, but nodded. "She is. If we keep up the exercises she'll be alright, and then you can come and visit her if she wants."
Nathan swallowed, and tried to see around her. "I just…" His eyes refocused on her. "What were those things? It seemed like Mara knew."
Jenny sucked in her cheeks. "Then I'll leave it up to her to explain it to you when she's ready. Now, I really think you should go."
"Jenny?" Mara called out.
She jumped to the balls of her feet, but didn't take her eyes off of Nathan. "Now. Before she comes looking for me."
He glanced behind her again, but nodded. "Would you just…would you just tell her I love her?"
"Nathan—"
"When she starts to remember," he clarified. "Will you tell her?"
Jenny let out an exasperated breath, but she nodded. "I promise. Now get out of here before she sees you."
He nodded, and turned to take off.
She closed the door and turned to find Mara waiting for her. "Who was that?" her sister asked.
Jenny waved her question off. "Oh, just the neighbors." She took her sister's hand and led her to the couch. "Now, where were we….ah. Yes. What's your name?"
Mara bit her lip, and crinkled her brow as she concentrated. "My name is..."
Jenny waited as the seconds ticked by.
Her sister shook her head, and tears came to her eyes. "I don't know who I am."
