A/N:
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Chapter Twenty Seven:
Day Five, Part Five
"Remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS."
Mahatma Gandhi
One second Steven Carter was laughing, the next he was standing stone still.
"Steven—" Gibbs stopped short of the boy as soon as he opened his mouth and started screaming. He didn't appear to be in pain, he was still, just standing there with his mouth open like a living statue with sound coming out, a horrible dissonant screech.
Inside, Wendy collapsed to the floor, Bobby screaming out her name through the monitor, looking like he was ready to try and crawl right through, even after Martha assured him that she was still breathing, her pulse felt normal and her pupils appeared to be reactive. Other than being unconscious, she was fine...or at least she seemed fine. Ianto knelt next to her; Jack laid his hand on his shoulder… they would just have to wait it out, there was nothing they could do for her.
The door behind Gibbs opened and Alice Carter bolted out—she raced for her son, but he caught her before she got to him.
"No, let go!" she tried to pull away, near hysterical, but he held her fast. "Please! Please, he needs me!"
"I know…I know. Just calm down," he soothed, holding her. "Calm down, Alice. Calm down."
She swallowed, choking back another sob and took a breath. She nodded. He was right. He let go. She moved towards her son calling out his name, but he didn't seem to hear her. To even see her.
She fell to her knees in front of him while he just… just stood there, just like before, a horrible keening coming out of his wide-open mouth. "Oh God, what have they done to you?" she wept, almost afraid to touch him.
Gibbs knelt down next to her and laid his hands on her shoulders. He glanced back through the open door but all he could see was a huddle of people; it was hardly the time to ask what was going on. He sat with Alice and held her while she cried, while she waited…
And then as suddenly as the scream started, it stopped. Steven fell to the ground with a dull thud.
"Oh God no, please no…" Alice scrambled to get to him, to hold him. "Please be all right, please, please… Dad!" She yelled hysterically towards the building. "Dad it didn't work!"
"Hey…shhh, Alice," Gibbs reached over and felt the boy's neck, "Alice, he's alive. He's got a pulse."
She shuddered and clutched the unconscious child tighter to her chest as the others raced outside. Martha pushed her way through and knelt down next to them. "Alice… please… let me look at him, I'm a doctor…"
"Come on," gently, Gibbs pulled her away from her son; Jack was already there waiting… but she didn't go to him, she just hugged her arms around herself, staring down at her boy.
"Alice—" Jack tried to reach out to her anyway.
"If he dies," she warned him in an angry tone, tears still streaming down her face.
"Alice, he's alive," Martha confirmed what Gibbs had already told her. "He's just unconscious. I'm pretty sure he's going to be all right." She glanced up at the others; Ianto had stayed inside with Wendy, who had just been starting to come to when Alice screamed. "We need to get Steven inside," she instructed, nodding to Gibbs, since the boy's mother seemed to trust him more than she trusted her own father.
The American obliged, lifting the boy carefully.
"They've got an infirmary," said Martha.
"I'll show you," Johnson volunteered.
Alice gave her a look, but when Jack nodded, nobody argued.
Martha lingered back instead of following them in. "Jack, we need to find out what's going on with the rest of the children, we need to know if it worked," she told him.
"You stay here with Alice and Steven," he said. "The rest of us are going back to London."
"Wendy shouldn't travel, Jack," Martha told him, "not until I'm sure…" even as she was saying the words, Wendy and Ianto were coming outside to join them. "Wendy…"
"I'm fine," she insisted. "They're gone. I'm sure they're gone," she told the Captain.
He gave over an inquisitive look.
"It's like… like everything that's been pricking at the back of my head for the past week is just… it's gone. They're gone."
"Tim, get inside and confirm that with Sarah Jane, see if that super computer of hers is still picking anything up."
"Jack," Martha continued to protest. "Even if they are gone—"
"Bobby's in London," Wendy reminded her. "I promise, if I start to feel woozy again, I'll tell him. Jack, please, I'm fine. I want to go with you."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"You can't—"
"I'm sure."
"All right," he nodded. Martha didn't like it, but… he trusted his team. Just like they trusted him, he trusted them. "Just take care of Steven for me," he told her—asked her.
Reluctantly, Martha nodded and went inside to look after Jack's grandson… she cast a quick glance over his shoulder. Grandson. He definitely had some explaining to do… she caught his eye. He smiled, that cocky little smirk of his.
Then he turned towards to face the rest of them. "Gwen, as soon as we get to London, I want you to meet up with Nerys and Rhys, get them back to Cardiff."
"Jack—"
He shook his head. "Cardiff and that's an order. Take Nerys home to her daughter, and make sure the rest of them are all right," he cast a quick glance over to his partner before looking back to Gwen. Ianto never would have asked Gwen or anyone else to look in on his family. He wasn't that selfish. "Check in on them and then get back to your own," the Captain told her in a tone that left no room for argument.
"All right," she agreed, reaching out and squeezing Ianto's hand briefly.
He flashed a tight lipped half-smile in her direction. "What about the rest of us?" he asked Jack.
"We've got a meeting with the Prime Minister." He caught Johnson's attention, as she was coming back outside, most likely to find out 'what next'. "Think I could get you to give us a lift back to London?" he asked her.
"It would be my pleasure, Captain. One question," she said as she got back to the knot of people gathered around him. "What do you want me to do with Dekker?"
Jack just smirked; she really shouldn't tempt him with questions like that. "Could you hang onto him for a little while?"
"How long?"
He shrugged.
She gave him a wary look, but agreed that she would arrange for suitable accommodations…
"I'm almost afraid to ask what you're planning," Mickey said quietly at his elbow.
Jack said nothing.
"Captain?" Lois appeared at the other elbow. "What about me?"
He paused a moment. "I guess that's up to you, Miss Habiba. You want a lift back to London with us?"
She started to nod.
"Of course, it might mean people would start to think you're with Torchwood," he added with a merry grin.
"I—I wouldn't mind that," she told him quietly, teasing mostly, because there was no way…
He just grinned and held out his hand. "Welcome aboard."
She blinked. "Are you serious, Captain?" Even if Gwen had said...it couldn't be that easy...could it? They were Torchwood, she was just an office girl!
Captain Harkness was still grinning. "I'd say you've passed the interview process, wouldn't you?"
"Now wait 'til you see what you have to do to get a raise," Mickey teased her.
"Funny," Ianto looked at him deadpan. "I've never had any problems passing my performance review."
Lois looked from one to the other, up at the Captain, and back to his partner again, trying to figure out how serious any of them really was.
"Don't worry," Sara confided softly, "You'll get used to it."
"If we didn't laugh when we could," Gwen added in a kind tone, understanding the look of confusion on Lois' face, "We'd never make it through when things get rough."
Lois nodded; that made sense.
"Jack," Tim hollered when they came back in, "Sarah Jane confirms it, the 456 are gone."
"There are reports coming in from all over the world," she said through the monitor. "Every child stopped, just like before and made that…that keening sound," she used the best word she had to describe it. "It lasted for forty five seconds, then it stopped. They all just…just stopped and collapsed. So far there aren't any reports of any injuries."
"I've got Princeton Plainsboro hospital on the phone," Bobby told him, sliding in next to Sarah Jane. He'd placed a call to Lisa Cuddy almost an hour ago, telling her to get into work, to keep an eye on the kids. He'd promised her that when it was all over she would know more than she wanted to, as if she hadn't already seen things she would rather not know existed. "They've started running tests on the children who were patients in the hospital when it happened," he said to Jack.
"And?"
"It'll be at least a half an hour before they can tell me anything. But so far nobody thinks there's going to be any lasting harm. We did it, Jack. We really did it."
"As if there was every any doubt!" Abby chimed in next to him, a broad grin plastered across her face. She winked at Tim through the monitor.
"Captain," Johnson nudged him, "the helicopters are ready when you are."
He nodded. "Keep on it, Bobby—good work. Everybody," he added, his gaze taking in all of them, "good work." This time he wasn't surprised when he felt Ianto's hand wrapped around his… he allowed himself just a moment to look at beautiful blue grey eyes. I love you, he thought in the younger man's direction… but it was so much more than just love, it was something he couldn't describe… He gave his hand a quick squeeze. "Come on, people, we still have a mess to clean up!"
…………………………………………………………….
Jack took the lead into Number Ten with Ianto just behind him, to his right. Mickey, Sara, Wendy, Tim, and Lois followed… Johnson was with them, although she lingered towards the rear of the party, aware that she didn't belong, but there because she was tangled up in the whole thing now, whether she liked it or not. She had assisted Harkness, Torchwood, instead of fulfilling her duty to stop them from interfering in matters of the state. She'd failed. But in failing, she had been a part of saving millions of children, possibly hundreds of civilian lives because she had no doubt that people all over the world would have fought back. Had fought back. It would have escalated. There had been a few causalities. Without Jack Harkness, there would have been more.
A pair of guards stopped them in the lobby.
"Torchwood," Jack announced. "Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones-Harkness, Sara Sidle, Timothy McGee, Mickey Smith, Wendy Shutten, Lois Habiba and…" he looked at Johnson.
"It's Camille," she told him in a quiet tone. She wasn't a part of his team, she wasn't Torchwood… except she was there with them. And for good or ill, Harkness had accepted that and included her. She was fairly certain her inclusion didn't please the rest of his people, least of all his partner. But one thing Frobisher had been right about, Jack Harkness was a man who played by his own rules. She supposed when one was immortal, one might have that luxury…
He nodded briefly in her direction before returning his attention to the guards. "And Camille Johnson. Trust me, the Prime Minister will see us."
There was a moment of silence while they considered whether or not they wanted one more fight… then a brief hold up while one of the guards conversed with his superiors. In short order they were passed through after it was ascertained that none of them was armed. Johnson had been, but she surrendered her weapons because Harkness told her to and he was without question in charge there.
Upstairs in the conference room, the Gold Command meeting was still in session. Around the world, children had begun waking up, seemingly with no ill effects from their most recent experience. As yet no one knew or understood what had happened, they just knew that the 456 were gone—which was more than the general population of the planet knew. The 'ambassador' Thames House had convulsed before seeming to explode, then it vanished in a pillar of fire, just like it had arrived. There was no trace of it left in the tank.
Prime Minister Brian Greene was anxious to get rid of UNIT and the American general. After all, they had technically been in charge, the Americans, so when the dust finally cleared, he would be able to blame it all on them. He was blameless… he was about to have that illusion (or delusion, perhaps) shattered.
He rose smoothly to his feet when Harkness came in with his team… it included the temp girl from the Home Office, Torchwood's little mole. Easily dealt with…
"Mr Prime Minister," Jack greeted him in a cool tone.
"Captain. So nice to finally meet you in person," he gave over a smile that anyone else would have found convincing. "I wish to apologize of course for the unfortunate events in Cardiff, I've only just become aware…"
"Shut up," Jack told him. "A man like Frobisher didn't have the authority to order my execution. The executions of Ellen Hunt, Andrew Stains and Michael Sanders. There were British citizens, Mr Greene and you had the executed for something they did forty years ago—something they did under order from the British government."
"I swear, I had no idea… I was just a child myself in 1965."
Brigit Spears stood up. "You gave John a blank page." She turned to Harkness. "I saw it, Captain. John was acting with the Prime Minister's authority." He gaze raked over Lois, clearly she was wondering how long Ms Habiba had been in Torchwood's employ. "John Frobisher was a good man, Captain. He was doing what he thought he had to do…" she cleared her throat. Looked away.
Jack's eyes narrowed; he understood. Something had happened. Frobisher was dead.
"May I remind you that you are responsible for the deaths of almost three hundred people at Thames House?" The Prime Minister said said then in a tone. "You Captain, not me. If you hadn't goaded them…"
Ianto stepped up next to his partner. "If you had called us in the first place, Sir, if you had accepted any one of our attempts to help you, those people wouldn't be dead. Their deaths are on your head, not ours. Not Jack's."
"You have to understand…" one of the women tried to tell them. "We were all under pressure…those aliens…"
"And we're the alien experts," Jack reminded her. "You needed us. You still do."
Greene cleared his throat. "What is it you want, Captain?" he glanced around nervously, but there was no one in the room who was in any less of an uncomfortable position. They had all said things, done things, that their constituents would never understand.
"I want you to listen to me, all of you." He glared at each person in the room, his gaze falling particularly on Brigit Spears. "The next time something like this happens—and it will—you call us."
"I had to protect…" Greene began.
Jack cut him off: "If you had called me, I would have kept your little secret, Mr Greene."
He opened his mouth, but then shut it again, not seeming to know how to respond.
"Let me tell you my little secret," said Jack, lowering his voice just hair. "In two thousand years… in one thousand… in five hundred years, no one will remember your name. Any of your names. You are blips in time. Your secrets aren't important to me. I'll out live them, out live all of you, because I can't die." He paused a moment to let his words sink in. "I have seen the future of this planet, of the Human Empire. So believe me when I say that in a hundred years' time the only people who will care that you existed at all will be your descendants and even they'll forget your names eventually. By my time, the only people who care about the British Empire at all will be historians and archaeologists. I want you to remember that the next time I offer you my help. I want you to remember that all I care about is the survival of this planet, the human race, because I've seen the future. You need us." He glared around the room. "In the meantime, whatever criminal charges you've brought up against Miss Habiba will be dropped. The same goes for the rest my team, their families and their friends. Am I making myself perfectly clear?"
Greene looked pale. "Yes. Yes, Captain, I think I understand."
"Somehow I doubt that." He turned on his heel and left, his team trailing after him. No one made any attempt to stop them.
……………………………………………………………
It was a quiet group that loaded themselves back into the military transport Johnson had 'arranged.' She'd already given them the address in Ealing where they were to pick up the rest of Harkness' team.
"What now?" she looked over to him; she couldn't help but notice the way that he and his partner were sitting, shoulder to shoulder, leaning against one another.
Harkness regarded her a moment. "Your career is probably over."
She almost laughed. "It was over the moment I agreed to help you, Captain." She was aware of the weary look his partner was giving them both.
So was Jack. "The rest of you are awfully quiet," he observed in a forcibly light tone instead of addressing either Johnson's question or Ianto's dour expression.
"Did you really mean what you said back there?" Sara asked him.
He gave over a questioning look.
Tim answered it. "How we're all just blips in time. How in a thousand years…five hundred years… no one will even remember anyone's names..."
"I'll remember the people mattered, Tim," Jack told him, although his gaze took in all of them. He would remeber each and every one of them.
"No you won't," said Wendy. "In a thousand years…"
"I'll remember you," he promised her. "All of you," he slid his hand over and rested it on his partner's knee; Ianto took hold of it, twined his fingers into his. "I won't ever forget… how could I? You… all of you… I am so proud of you. I won't ever forget that."
………………………………………………………..
"Captain…" Johnson called to him as Jack and the rest of his team piled out of the jeeps in front of Sarah Jane Smith's house.
He nodded for the rest of them to go on in… although Bobby and Abby had already met Wendy and Tim on the front lawn. He smiled a moment as the two couples were reunited. It had been a harrowing forty eight hours, he was glad to see them back together, gladder still to know that Gwen had reached Rhys and was on her way home, that in a few more hours Nerys would be with her daughter. By tonight, he and Ianto would be home.
Johnson cleared her throat.
"Sorry."
"It must be nice," she surprised him by saying. "Having someone miss you when you're gone."
"You don't have anyone waiting for you?"
She shook her head. "This is my life. Was my life. Captain… I… what I said before about not apologizing…"
He waved it off. "No apology necessary."
She started to say something then seemed to change her mind. She forced a smile. "You should go be with your people, Sir."
"Why don't you come see in me in six months."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You're good at taking orders. At giving them. What I need are people who can think for themselves, people who ask questions, not just blindly do what they're told to do. It will take more than six months to learn to do that—but if you're still looking for a job in six months come see me and I'll find a place for you."
She hesitated. "May I speak freely Captain?"
"Please."
"As much as I appreciate the offer—you're right, it's what I was going to ask—I don't think… your partner…" he would never accept her and even if Jack Harkness was in charge, a law unto himself, he woudln't go against the wishes of the man he lived with. No one would.
He just smiled. "You let me worry about Ianto. You worry about being someone I can actually use. And even I can't, I'll find somebody who can," he added to the expression of uncertainty on her face.
She nodded. "I'll make sure your daughter gets back home safely."
"Thank you."
