A/N: after a short pause we roll again. Mark 7 is making his mark.

Beta-ed: TattoedLibrarian


Talking to Jack was painful enough on an ordinary day. Talking to him as a Flesh was just awful. Considering all versions that came in before him, his original, and Jack's position among them was just too much. Anger seemed like a proper reaction and he could understand now how Mark 2 had gotten so angry. But this was Jack before him, not a replica, and he dealt with them all the best he knew how.

Of course he avoided the answer about the real Ianto's fate but that was for the best. He tried to listen, but the plot was just too much to take in. Jack got angry at his sarcasm and his member was abandoned. Mark 7 regretted his anger, he had no right to be angry at Jack. None of this was his doing. After the initial shock of contact, even muffled by this blanket was welcomed, Mark 7 regretted losing it.

As Jack's speech went on Mark 7 felt the weight of his existence, of the inconvenience he brought Jack, the burden.

"So what are you saying" he had to speak up to break free from that drowning feeling. "That I should follow his example and dissolve to rid you of the inconvenience of my existence?"

"No!" Jack shouted at him passionately and Mark 7 set aside the fact that he was fake, it didn't matter. This before him was the real Jack, passionate, troubled and guilty as ever. This wasn't the time for self-pity. He was alive and he had a purpose which was the same as that of his original. He wanted to make Jack feel better, to be lighter, to be less tortured. Eternity was long enough of a punishment without carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

That's why he put on his poker face and poked at Jack about being too old and sexually inapt. It did the trick and Jack focused on the task of Mark's 7 erection.

Jack leaned in looking at Mark 7 like he was real.

"You little wanker you" he said responding to a challenge like he always had. Just a small banter more and Jack did his thing sending Mark 7 just by the sound of his voice.

When he calmed down there was sorrow left behind. There was no excitement anymore. He wasn't Ianto although he resembled him. He could do his trick he remembered so well but he couldn't get Jack for real or bring him real comfort.

"You can go now" Mark 7 said not willing to disclose his emotions before him.

"Sure" Jack complied like he wouldn't have to with the real Ianto, he would hug now and lay beside him.

But he gave to Mark 7 what he had to give so Mark 7 said thank you before Jack exited.

When the doors closed Mark 7 let his tears roll down his temples, but even then he had to admire the way he was made. Everything was replicated to perfection, he just couldn't find anything out of place, anything that would tell him he wasn't real, that he hadn't hugged Jack just a few days ago. Even his sorrow felt real, not something provoked by any of this but as a continuance by his memories. He cried for Jack not taking hugs, for losing their Hub, for Jack screaming while he reassembled, for Jack in a concrete block, for this future Jack that can still be affected by versions of Ianto. But mostly he cried because he couldn't go back home, he would never see his sister or nephews again, he can't care of his Jack anymore, everything was just gone and not even his to miss it.

After some time he cleared his eyes and wiped his face. Enough of this. He was this Flesh version of himself now, he was Mark 7 and those weren't his things to be sad about. He'd find a way to make this time work, to find out where he fits in now. And Jack has his own ways of coping, he has to. Jack wasn't his to care for anymore. Even this desire was just a reflection of his original. He'll find a place for himself in this time and space, but first they had to secure that Hive he came from. Jack was right about that, it was their Hive, they had the right to know the solution even if they weren't aware of their creation. After all, who was aware of their creation moment, no one remembers that. Why would being made by Flesh make him any less real? With that he fell asleep.

When he woke the ship wasn't vibrating. That had to mean they had landed. Mark 7 ventured outside to find out what was going on and how he could be of an assistance. Thinking of Jack's assistance made him smirk. Being real or not, he did feel better after releasing some of his fluids. Trianca would be appalled, but apparently she had claimed to not even be interested in Jack's fluids. That was odd, to think of Jack as a single, on task oriented leader that doesn't flirt around. But maybe it was ordinary because he was just that in Torchwood before Ianto stepped in. It was Ianto's doing, that affair of theirs, not Jack's. Jack got pretty offended by the suggestion that Ianto was just any old lover. Maybe his original did leave permanent mark on Jack's life, the one that still persisted. That made Mark 7 a bit cockier, he wasn't modeled after any old lover but the one Jack still got upset about. That gave Mark 7 some leverage over events, maybe his insight into Jack was the thing that remained. Whatever it was, Mark 7 would find a way to use that leverage to their advantage.

With that he stepped on the exiting ramp just to see Jack talking to another version of Ianto, one with a scared face. Not just a small patch of red like Mark 7 had, although it was still there on his face, but with big white scar across his cheek. He looked serious and not happy to see Jack.

Good, Mark 7 thought to himself, it won't be hard to tell us apart this way. Jack would know which one wasn't wise enough to flash him with his member. With that he got on hard ground to join the conversation. Although this was a version of Ianto too, it wasn't Mark 7, they weren't one and the same person.


Do leave me a note of how you feel about all this :)