Personal Things.
"Are there any signs of her?" General Stanley asks over the satellite link.
"Sorry General. No signs of her after the flash and the blast. We have people scouting for her but nothing. I'm sorry sir but I think that she has gone," Captain Terry replies, sadness on his face.
"Keep a look out just in case but I think that you might be right," General Stanley replies to him.
"There is nothing positive from U.N.I.T. either and they were monitoring the surrounding area. Who's going to tell Torchwood?" Captain Matthews asks General Stanley and Captain Terry and neither of them replied.
"I guess that is down to me then. I have to give Captain Harkness her things away," Captain Matthews tells them and leaves the tent, leaving them to discuss whatever it was that they had to discuss.
He began walking to where the Torchwood team was. It had been only 10 minutes since Phoenix and the Devourer had disappeared in a flash of light. The Army had started bagging up the hundreds of dead minions, throwing the body bags in the back of the Bedford trucks they had arrived in. Captain Matthews made his way through the bodies of the minions to where Jack had been sat since he had been knocked down by the blast, the rest of the team sat with him.
Owen was comforting Toshiko, it had hit her more than she had expected it to. He was holding her in his arms and stroking her hair. She held onto his arms as he cradled her. Gwen and Ianto were sat, each with arms around Jack, holding onto him as he cried. Jack was in pieces and they all knew it. Captain Matthews walked past them all and stood in front of Jack.
"Captain Harkness, my condolences. Miss Phoenix instructed me to give you her things with the instruction that they are to put in the vault under deadlock. I also have a personal letter from Phoenix to Captain Harkness," Captain Matthews tells them as Gwen takes the things out of hands as Captain Matthews holds out the letter to Jack, Jack taking the letter with a very shaky hand.
"Thank you Captain Matthews. Thank you for everything," Ianto tells him and he smiles.
"Wish I could have done more but Miss Phoenix knew what she was doing. I would go home if I were you. The Army will be here for a while yet clearing up and U.N.I.T. is watching out just in case. Go home Captain Harkness. We will let you know if anything happens," Captain Matthews tells them.
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The team returned to the hub, Toshiko taking the hub off of lock down as Ianto took Jack into his office and sat him down in his chair. Jack just slumped into the chair, his eyes red, tears running down his face, he hadn't stopped crying since the flash of light when Phoenix had disappeared. Ianto couldn't bare seeing him like this but Ianto knew deep in his heart that losing Phoenix all over again, in front of his very eyes would break Jack and Ianto would have to fight to hold him together.
Ianto sat on the desk just looking at Jack. His partner, his lover hadn't spoken a word since he screamed NO after he saw that Phoenix had gone. He hadn't made a noise, nothing except the crying. The only thing that Ianto could hear in the office was his own heart beat, beating faster at the sight of his destroyed lover, his own breathing, the odd noise from the team in the main hub through the closed door. Ianto needed to get out, just for a minute before he broke down.
Ianto got off of the desk watching Jack. Jack didn't flinch, didn't move, his body still, almost barely breathing, Jack's empty eyes fixed on one line of sight, not really looking at anything, not really there. Ianto moved around the desk and went to the door, opening it and looking back at Jack in the hope that he had moved but Ianto sighed. He hadn't moved, not an inch. Ianto left the office, quietly closing the door behind himself. The team were almost collapsed in the sofa area, none of them having the energy to take their body armour off, their swords laying on the coffee table. Toshiko was almost laying in Owens arms, everyone's feet on the table and for once, Ianto wasn't going to say anything about it.
"Who wants coffee?" Ianto asks them, their eyes suddenly focusing on him as though he had appeared from nowhere.
"You're a god send Ianto," Gwen tells him with a smile, Toshiko and Owen just smiling at him and Ianto leaves to make coffee, it was the least they deserved.
"I wonder how Jack is doing? He didn't look good before and he hasn't said a word, just cried," Gwen asks Tosh and Owen.
"Imagine how it would feel for you if Rhys left now, you carrying on life always thinking about him, thinking he was dead all that time and then for him to come back into your life, for you to fall in love with him all over again and then for him to die in front of your eyes and you can't do anything, then and only then will you be close to what Jack feels," Owen tells her taking both Gwen and Tosh by surprise.
They sit in silence as Ianto arrives with his tray, cups billowing with steam carefully balanced on the tray. Each member of the team takes their cups and takes a cautious sip of the hot, sweet coffee.
"Ianto. What do we do with the armour and the swords?" Toshiko asks Ianto, not wanting to burden Jack with the question.
"Just leave the swords were they are and when you take the armour off, just leave it on the sofas." Ianto tells them picking up the two remaining cups of coffee.
"How is he Ianto?" Owen asks him as he is about to leave for the office.
"He isn't good Owen. He won't say anything, he won't move, he won't do anything. He is grieving and at the moment, I can't really do anything for him but be there. It's something that he is going to have to go through. I think that you lot have had enough for one day. I know that it is only just before dinner time but you have been through a lot today. I think that you should go home and get some rest," Ianto tells them and they nod at him.
"I take it that you are staying here with Jack?" Gwen asks him as she gets up and walks to him.
"He needs someone to be there for him so he isn't alone," Ianto tells her.
Ianto takes the two cups of coffee into the office, shutting the door behind him and as he turned to the desk, Jack wasn't there anymore, he had gone. Ianto looked around the office and couldn't see him anywhere and then Ianto spotted that the hatch to his bedroom was open. Ianto walked over to the hatched and looked inside but it was that dark that Ianto couldn't see. Leaving the two cups at the entrance of the hatch, Ianto climbs down the ladder and into Jack's bedroom, finding the lamp and turning it on. On the bed, Jack was curled in a ball, his coat still on as well as his holster complete with Webley and his boots still on.
Bring the cups down one by one, Ianto puts them on the bedside table and sits on the bed next to Jack. Jack's arms were wrapped around himself, his eyes wide open but red and swollen, nothing in them, they were empty. Ianto stroked Jack's head hoping for some response but there was none, nothing.
"Jack. You need to take at least your coat and holster off. You can't be comfortable with them on," Ianto tells him but there was no sign of life from Jack, he had completely shut down.
Ianto struggled but managed to get Jack's off, Jack only giving the smallest of help, still saying nothing. Eventually, Jack lay curled up on the bed minus his boots, long coat and holster. Ianto sat at the bottom of the bed, finally taking off his own body armour and laying it on the chair in the corner of the room and then taking his boots off and as he did, Jack finally spoke.
"She's gone hasn't she?" Jack asks him doing nothing other than that.
"Yes Jack, she has gone," Ianto replies putting his boots to the side and then he feels the bed shake and he turns to see Jack crying again and it broke his heart.
Ianto crawled onto the bed and lay down behind Jack, wrapping his arm around him as he cried, holding him close. Ianto kept it all in for Jack's sake, Ianto's heart breaking partly because of what Phoenix had done, sacrificing herself to save them all but mostly because Jack was in more pain then he had ever seen him in. Jack was never one to cry, even when he was hurting, he usually turned his pain into anger but Jack was hurting so much he couldn't do that now, he just cried.
Ianto held Jack so close, his arms tightly around Jack, Jack's body shaking as he cried. Ianto stroked his hair and kissed his head, just to let him know that he was there, that Jack wasn't alone. They stayed there for the rest of the day and the rest of the night. Neither of them moving unless they really had to, Jack drifting in and out of sleep though it was never for long. Jack would wake suddenly and then start crying again, Ianto didn't know why but he thought that it had to do Phoenix, Jack was probably dreaming about her and waking up, taking a few minutes to remember what had happened and then the crying began again. Ianto slept some of the night but not much, he was too worried about Jack.
Ianto tried to get Jack to eat but Jack didn't move, didn't speak again. Ianto tried to get him to at least drink something but Jack didn't, not even Ianto's special coffee that usually made everything ok again. Ianto felt that Jack was giving up and Ianto knew how that felt, he had been there once before. Ianto knew that Jack was heading for the darkness and Ianto needed to be there if he did, he knew that the darkness could destroy Jack, change him and Ianto didn't want that, he couldn't let that happen.
Ianto stayed with Jack until he just had to get up and get a shower, get dressed, start his jobs that he did every morning. Start the coffee machine, start up the hubs computers but as he cleared around the workstations, he saw that weapons, the swords that Phoenix had brought them for the battle. Then he saw the armour and Ianto had to sit down. As he ran his fingers across the armour, tears started to fall. He had been so busy being there for Jack, he hadn't shed his own tears but now, sat on the sofa, touching the armour she had brought, seeing the weapons she had brought so they could defend themselves, the swords she had taught them to use, he couldn't stop himself and he started to cry.
He had bonded with her since the night they had all gone out, he had gotten to know her a little more in her last days. He admired her. Ianto knew that it must have been really hard to come back, back to Earth, back to Torchwood, back to Jack after all that she had been through but she came back, taught them how to fight The Devourer's minions and win, knowing that she wouldn't be there to see their victory. He sat and let it all out. He didn't even realise that he missed her already.
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"Do you think that it hurt, any of what she did but mostly the end?" Toshiko asked Owen, laying in his arms, holding his hand.
"I think it did, I'm almost sure that it hurt more than we can imagine but at least it is over for her now," Owen tells Toshiko and she looks up at him.
"What do you think happened in the end? Where do you think she is?" Toshiko asks Owen looking for some comfort but Owen had to be honest with her.
"I think that once the end came, Phoenix must have been relieved that it was all over. Wherever she is, it must be better for her than all the stuff she had to live with everyday," Owen tells her with compassion.
"She wasn't there for long but I am going to miss her. I was the only one that she showed the cemetery and in a way, I was honoured that she showed me it. I don't even think that she showed Jack. With her around, she made you feel safe, with her abilities, you knew that she could handle everything you could throw at her. She left memories with me," Toshiko admits with a smile looking at Owen.
"I know what you mean and I don't mean like that before you think it even though she was cute but way too much for someone like me to handle. What I mean is, she is the only one so far that has handed Jack his arse on a golden platter and him taking it laying down and not arguing back. Even Ianto doesn't have that kind of hold on Jack yet," Owen tells her as he looks into her eyes, a tear forming in the corner of her eye.
Owen strokes her hair and then holds her tightly under the sheets of his bed as they lay there, in Owens bed, in Owens flat.
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"Are you still awake Rhys?" Gwen asks laying restless in bed, laying in the dark.
"Or course I am. Even I can't sleep through the amount of tossing and turning you have been doing," Rhys tells her as he turns over in bed to face Gwen.
"Sorry. I just can't sleep. Something really bad happened at work today and I can't get it out of my head. I close my eyes and I see it over and over again," Gwen tells Rhys, sniffing back her tears.
"Why didn't you tell me? I asked you why you were home early but when you didn't answer me, I thought I had better not push it and you were so tired," Rhys tells her pulling Gwen to him and putting his arms around her, holding her close.
"Someone at work died today and it has knocked us all of six. Jack is the worst though as he knew her best," Gwen tells him obviously not telling him how Phoenix died.
"It's not Tosh is it?" Rhys asks her knowing that it couldn't be her.
"No. It was Phoenix, the new girl at work. Jack and her had a thing and he cared about her a lot," Gwen tells him as the tears roll down her face, slow at first and then faster.
"I'm not going to say what I would usually say. Is Jack alright?" Rhys asked not really caring if he was or not but he knew it would affect Gwen at work if he wasn't.
"He's in pieces. I've never seen him like this before. Since it happened, he hasn't said a word. He's like a zombie, not doing anything. All he does is cry. I don't think Ianto knows how to help him other than be there for him," Gwen tells Rhys as she strokes his arm.
"Ianto will know. He loves him so he will know what to do. If he needs your help, I'm sure he will ask you but he will need help at work," Rhys tells her breathing in her hair, thanking god it wasn't Gwen.
"She shouldn't have died. There was a lot more things that she could have done to help people. She just gave up. Don't ever let me give up Rhys, no matter what happens, don't let me give up," Gwen almost begs Rhys, holding him so tight that she was almost bruising him.
"I won't ever let you give up, no matter how bad it gets. I promise you that," he tells her and kisses her on the head, slightly confused.
Gwen falls asleep in Rhys's arms a little while later, her exhaustion taking it's toll on her.