STORIES

ELEVEN

As Jack stepped out of the TARDIS and into the Hub, he noticed the facility had been placed into night status. The lights were dim, the computer monitors in sleep mode. Not that this had anything to do with whether it was actually nighttime out in the "real" world. There wasn't necessarily any relationship at all between what was going on inside Torchwood and what was going on outside.

The Hub generated its own environment, its own timescape. For many years, in fact, Torchwood had been sort of a universe separate unto itself. It was its own detached cosmos, ignoring much of what was happening in the world that existed outside of its doors. Torchwood – and the people who worked within its confines – was concerned only with its own stories, and busy only with its own mission… to scavenge alien technology that happened to fall through the rift and wash up on the shores of planet Earth.

Over the decades that institutional single-mindedness had become Jack's personal single-mindedness as well, and with it he had somehow misplaced a big chunk of his humanity.

Yes, the Captain had lost something, but with The Doctor's help, and really, he couldn't deny it, with the help of Gwen Cooper, he'd managed to regain some if not all of that mislaid humanity. It had been an interesting and challenging private journey, but Jack Harkness had lived long enough to realize that for better or worse life was all about change.

And yes again, after the fall of Canary Wharf he perhaps had rebuilt Torchwood in The Doctor's honor, but only recently, Jack felt, very recently indeed, had it become an organization that the Time Lord might actually approve of. This evolution was something that made the Captain proud.

He was also very proud of Gwen Cooper, who'd evidently followed his orders perfectly and emptied the facility of staff. Considering what The Doctor and he were about to do, this was not only appropriate, but very, very smart. The idea of thawing out his brother scared the crap out of Jack.

"Are you coming?" he called over his shoulder.

"Yes!" came the peevish response as the Time Lord backed out of the TARDIS and quickly closed the doors behind him. "Spike nearly got out!" The Doctor spun round and snapped at him.

"Sorry, Doctor!" Jack exclaimed with exaggerated remorse. In truth the Captain thought maybe Spike would've had a good time wandering around the Hub. There really weren't any… well, many things that the cat could get into which would hurt him and they could always locate him on one of the life signs detection systems if he went too far astray. As long as he didn't get eaten by a Weevil… Or skewered by the Pterodactyl as a snack… Or…

"Erm, really… sorry, Doctor, my bad!" Jack apologized much more sincerely the second time.

"Where to?" The Doctor, his annoyance already forgotten, asked as he pushed his hands deep into his coat pockets.

"The morgue."

"Ah! Should've known," this was accentuated with a raised eyebrow.

"Well… what did you think I meant when I said that I put him on ice?"

The Doctor shrugged silently.

"Follow me," Jack led The Doctor out of the main part of the Hub toward the crypts. The only sounds the gentle humming of the air filtration system and the two men's footsteps.

As they approached the vault the Time Lord touched Jack lightly on the shoulder, "Um, Captain. Do you think it would be a wise precaution to put the facility into lockdown?"

Before Jack could answer a third voice came from the deeply shadowed morgue, "Sounds like a good idea to me, sir."

"Ianto?" The Captain frowned and stopped dead in his tracks.

Ianto Jones was sitting on a chair in the morgue, a book resting on his lap and an empty coffee cup on the floor by his feet. "Yes, sir. Who else would you be expecting, sir?"

"Damn it, but I told Gwen…"

Ianto rose from the chair. "Yes sir. I am aware of what you told her to do, sir. You should know better than that, sir."

Jack glared at Ianto warily, "Does Gwen know about this?"

"No sir, she is unaware that I'm here. She followed your orders precisely, sir. Have no doubt about it."

Jack's eyes darted around the vault. He could make out a small table by the specific crypt which contained his brother. It had several vials and numerous medical tools resting on its surface. He took a deep breath. "How did you know?"

Ianto smiled as he walked forward and offered his right hand to The Doctor, who shook it vigorously and returned the smile brightly. "It wasn't hard to guess, sir. Why else would you come back but ask all the staff to vacate the premises?" The Welshman shrugged. "Perhaps, sir, you aren't as mysterious as you think you are, at least not to me."

"Well, as long as you're here…" Jack sounded exasperated but also a tiny bit relieved.

"I'll be setting the facility to lockdown, sir."

"Make that a silent lockdown, Ianto. And by the way, you can stop calling me sir."

"Yes, sir. Silent, sir. And no, with all due respect I don't think so, sir." Ianto winked as he pivoted and silently padded out of the room.

The Doctor turned and met Jack's eyes for a long moment. "It would seem at least some of your distinguished colleagues have minds of their own, Captain."

Jack sighed loudly. "Was there ever any doubt of it?"

"You could ask him to leave."

"I could…" Jack walked over to the crypts and with a loud grunt pulled out the chamber which housed his brother's shrouded body. There was a soft whoosh as the crypt's sub-zero vacuum was replaced with air. As far as he could tell, all was as it should be within. "But I won't. I have a feeling he might come in handy. Besides…"

"Yes?"

"It's nice to see him," Jack said very quietly as he unzipped the body bag, revealing Gray's colorless face.

The flashing red lockdown lights came on as Ianto walked back into the room. Jack stepped to the side and drew his Webley revolver. The Time Lord shot him a disapproving look, but the Captain shook his head vehemently.

"You're in my house now, Doctor; you'll play by my rules. And no one knows what we're up against better than me," he glanced at Ianto, "and my brave friend and colleague here, Ianto Jones." Jack looked at his brother – pure, unadulterated hatred flaming in his blue eyes, "This asshole killed two of my team and despite the fact that I gave him one, if there's anybody who doesn't deserve a second chance, it's him."

Jack used his gun to motion toward his brother and then left its barrel pointing directly at Gray's head. "Ianto, go ahead and wake him up."