I was helping Ianto catalogue Class D artefacts that had been left unsorted since before Cardiff D Day when Jack told me he needed me.
"Just one second, Jack," I replied through my earpiece. "There's something a bit beyond Class D here. A gun, Sycorax in origin, charge depleted, but it's still a danger if the canister ruptures."
"Radiation?" Jack asked me.
"Of the worst kind imaginable."
"Have Ianto seal it up and tag it; I'll deal with it later," Jack said. "I really need you out here."
"On my way," I replied. "That's vision correction," I told Ianto, pointing to a large metal ring. "Class C, not D. Don't touch the buttons." He eyed it curiously, as it was big enough to be a bracelet, and I chuckled, pressing a kiss to his forehead as I stood. "Seal and tag the blaster," I told him. "I'll be back."
"Talk him out of it, will you?" John said in a huff as I passed him on my way into the medical area where Laura was finally being taken off the ventilator.
"Talk you out of what, Jack?" I inquired, arms crossed. Then I noticed the hypodermic on the tray next to her. "You're Retconning Laura?"
"It's her choice, not mine," he told me. "She wants to forget."
"Well, you're not exactly trying to change her mind, are you!" I exclaimed, giving him a shove.
"Sage," a raspy voice called to me. I went to her.
"Why?" I asked Laura.
"I'm out of my depth," she whispered. And there's you, she sent into my mind. I don't think my life will ever be normal again if I don't forget you, Sage.
"What the hell do you need me for?" I asked Jack. "Why not just get it over with, then?"
"She needs false memories," he told me. "You're the only one who can see into her mind. Shift things," he told me. "You've done it before."
"Hours, Jack, not days," I reminded him.
"I know," he conceded. "Too much has happened for a complete blank to suffice, though. I need her to believe she never left London. She needs an alibi for the time she was away from work, and memories of the ATMOS gas. Can you manage that?"
"You're going to owe me big for this one, Jack," I said. "Planting false memories is one thing. Bad ones is quite another."
"Why do you think John's so pissed?"
"Laura," I asked, "are you really sure?" She nodded. "All right, then... This is probably going to hurt, but try to relax and just trust me, all right? I need to see into your mind, and not just the surface stuff."
"I trust you," she husked.
I put my hands on the sides of her face, pushing past Torchwood, the ATMOS cloud, the night she met Ianto and me. I saw her job, how she felt about it, how she was so often overlooked and belittled by her co-workers. I could hear her moaning in pain with my ears and with my mind, but I needed to see to do right by her. When I withdrew, I did so slowly.
"Tom, the injection," I heard Jack say.
"Wait," I interrupted, steadying myself against the bed. "Laura," I whispered, "are you sure you want to go back to that?"
She nodded. "It'll get better one day," she murmured. "And besides, I won't know any different, will I."
"I will," I blurted.
She smiled. "Please, Sage. It really is my choice."
"Go ahead," I told Tom. "Goodbye, Laura Harding. Keep thinking beyond the boundaries of normal," I whispered, kissing her gently on the lips. A moment later she was unconscious. When I was sure the Retcon had taken, I went back into her mind. I fed her memories of a cold that had kept her from work, the minutiae of her lonely home life interspersed with coughing spells and even vomiting. Then I forced the ATMOS into her apartment. Her mind tried to fight me off, as she was awake enough inside her mind to be afraid of what she was seeing. I forced the choking, forced the fight to block the smoke out, forced in the feeling of passing out before being able to fully fight back... then I withdrew.
"Sage?" Tom said as I looked up from Laura's still form, my face pale and clammy. "Oh, God..." He reached for some gauze and wiped my nose and mouth. Something in my brain had ruptured. I was bleeding.
As Tom tried to clean me up, I took off my wrist strap clumsily and handed it to Jack, who looked stricken. "Sitting room floor," I told him. "Dial 999 and leave her before she wakes up."
"I'll make this up to you somehow," he said gravely, tears in his eyes.
"Go." Tom was barely even distracted by the fact that Jack and Laura had just disappeared right next to him. "Dear Goddess, I wasn't built for this," I murmured, my head throbbing.
"Shh... It's okay. You're okay."
"No, I'm not. You know better," I countered. "Diagnosis, Doctor Milligan?"
"Aneurysm," he murmured. "If I'd known, I would have stopped you."
"He wouldn't have let you," John voiced, returning from wherever he'd gone to wait it out. "Lay her down, doctor."
"She'll drown—"
"It's stopped already. Lay her down." Tom obeyed. "All right, little one. What's your name?"
"Sage," I replied.
"When were you born?"
"Minus 8.5 years PF."
"PF?" Tom inquired.
"Planet Fall," John explained. "Her home planet burned. She counts backward from that day. What's your father's name, Sage?"
"The Doctor."
"Mother?"
"I don't know. Father never said."
"His first wife's name?"
"Patience. They had a son. He never told me his name."
"Second wife?"
"You know better. That was my mother."
"Who was Miranda?"
"My sister. He says not, but she was."
"How is that possible?"
"Parallel Gallifrey. Daughter instead of son. Then Zezanne instead of Susan."
"Who was Susan?"
"My niece. His granddaughter."
"When did you come to Earth?"
"New Year's Day, 1900."
"The first person you met?"
"Jack Harkness," I said tearily.
"And how old are you now?"
"One hundred and sixteen, John. Leave me alone."
"No. What type of TARDIS does your father have?"
"Type 40. Female."
"When did we first meet?"
"Minus One PF."
"Where?"
"Mount Cadon."
"What did I always call you?"
"Mouth. Because I talked too much."
"What's your favourite flower?"
"Purple roses."
"Do Sterling roses have thorns?"
"Look at my fucking hand, John! Some do!" I exclaimed.
"She's fine," John told Tom Milligan, who had been listening intently to the entire exchange. "I'll be right back."
"Are you really one-hundred-sixteen years old?" Tom asked me as he wiped the rest of the blood from my face with a damp cloth.
"Yes. I'm just a kid," I told him with a tired smile. "Did you know what Jack was up to? Was that the meeting last night?"
"He explained Retcon," he admitted, "and said he'd offer Laura the choice. He never mentioned what you would have to do."
"I generally don't have to. Normally someone who's been Retconned just has a blank spot in their memory. Jack has one himself that spans two years."
"I suppose that's why he wanted Laura to have memories, even if they're false ones," he murmured. "Did he know what it'd do to you?"
"He suspected. Last time I gave someone a few false hours I had quite the headache. My nose bled a bit the day after, then I was fine," I admitted.
"How could he ask you to do it, then?"
"Because he knew I would. For him. You heard John's questions. I've known Jack just over a century, and he knows me far too well. I've risked my life for him before. I'll do it a thousand times more if he needs me to," I murmured.
"But why?"
"Because I love him." Ianto ran to me just then, pulling me into his arms and very nearly off the bed. "Whoa! Easy, Ianto. I'm fine."
"I'll kill him," he spat.
"And he'll get right back up and be pissed at you, same as when Owen killed him. It's all right," I said soothingly.
"No, it's not," he said, crying against my shoulder. "You can't regenerate if you're unconscious! He could have killed you!"
"I could have said no," I pointed out. He pulled away just far enough to press his mouth to mine in frantic, passionate kisses.
"Wow," Jack remarked behind him, arriving just then. Ianto let go of me and swung around, landing a rather fantastic right hook to his jaw. "Okay," Jack said, grimacing. "I deserved that."
"You're lucky I don't even you out," John said mildly from just above him. "Except that she made a good point. She could have said no... I'm going to go use up some of your ammunition downstairs," he said as he turned away.
"I waited for the medics," Jack told me, but I'd figured as much. He walked right past Ianto, who was still fuming, to put my VM back on my left wrist. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I am now," I told him. "You missed the gusher."
"I didn't want her to have—"
"I know, Jack. Gaps are bad. But you did deserve Ianto's fist in your face."
"I know," he admitted.
"I'm taking him out for a bit, okay? Don't know where, but far," I said, swinging my legs off the bed and standing. Tom opened his mouth to say something, but then he realized I was quite steady on my feet and favoured me with a curious smile instead. "Ianto," I murmured. He was still angry, but mostly he looked betrayed. "Hey, want to get out of here?" He nodded. "Where do you want to go?"
"Anywhere," he husked.
"Scotland?" I suggested. He nodded again. "Let's go to Inverness. See if Nessie's out today." That finally got him to smile. I put my arms about his waist. He rested his chin on my shoulder and we teleported out of there.
In our wake, Tom asked Jack, "The Loch Ness Monster is real?"
"Sure," Jack told him. "She's pretty friendly, when she gets to know you."
