Going through reports Ianto had prepared was one task dreaded task that Jack couldn't pawn off on someone else. His aid was thorough and detail oriented. Never did Jack have to add anything. It was possible deletions he needed to look for. Information he didn't want to be recorded for all time. Such as the details on Frank Fisher. The story Frank believed was what needed to be in the official record, not the con, not the facts. Jack left that there were marks, deep scratches, discovered on Frank's door the morning after he had returned home accompanied by strange foot prints on the walk. He deleted that it was Ianto who had caused them. He wasn't sure if those additional touches had been necessary, but Frank had wasted no time in accepting his new position in London and moving out of his house. In fact he stayed in a hotel after he found the signs of Weevil interest around his dwelling. Jack doubted he would ever see Frank within fifty miles of Cardiff again.
There were other details that Jack didn't want in the records, that the Doctor had been in the infirmary for three weeks now was one, at least not the actual truth. So he conveniently changed the Doctor's identity in all the reports. It was a Lackalin that they had in the infirmary as far as the records were concerned. Harmless race, curious explorers, not conquerors, they passed for human quite easily, unless someone noticed their ears were glued on or the advanced prehensile nature of their tongues. That last part Jack had often found entertaining and enjoyable in the past, and caused them to come to easily to mind when he decided he needed to conceal the Doctor's identity.
Right now he was 'correcting' an entry from a week ago. For thirteen days the Doctor had lain pale and unmoving, no change in his condition but a few glacially healing bruises and scrapes. Martha continuously worried and fretted over him. It had been a challenge for Jack to get her to take a break from her vigil. One meal a day outside of the infirmary was all he could manage to get her to do and then she watched the monitor like a hawk the whole time. Though she feigned a relaxed attitude, Jack could tell she was braced to bolt back to the Doctor's side should the need arise. Then a week ago, there was a change.
Jack had entered infirmary determined to get Martha to step outside of the hub, get a breath of fresh air, convince her the Doctor would be safe in under his watchful eye. Determination changed to surprise when he heard Martha happily humming as she switched out the IV boluses.
"Good news?" Jack asked.
Martha looked up at him. Smile wide and eyes bright no longer lined with worry. "Yes, definitely, look." She pointed to the monitor.
Jack shook his head. "I don't see anything different?"
"This section here. It shows brain activity. See the waveform?"
Jack squinted his eyes as he studied the screen, there were very small bumps in the lines. So small he would have thought that they were just an artifact of the instrumentation.
"I know they're small," Martha continued. "But they weren't there yesterday. It's been flat since he collapsed."
"So, what does it mean?"
"His brain is starting to function. He's a long way to consciousness, but it is an improvement. One I've been waiting for."
Jack looked down at the Doctor. He was lying on his side. Bolstered by pillows and covered by a sheet and a blanket. He was still pale, unmoving, there was a slight fog on the oxygen mask that covered his face. The bruises were gone, but that was the only change he could see. Then there was movement, a tremor that rolled thought the Doctor from head to toe like a wave. So strong it was visible through the bed clothes.
"What's that?" he asked in alarm.
"I don't' know." Martha responded calmly. "It's been happening all along. Two of three times a day. At first I couldn't see a change in his condition when it occurred, but look now." She gestured towards the monitor.
Jack could see it. The little bumps had increased, slightly but definitely. "So it's something good?"
"I think so," she answered as she looked down and smoothed the blanket covering the Time Lord. She sighed and turned back to Jack with a sad smile. "Don't worry Jack, I'm not a fool, I know he's not out of the woods yet, but I do believe he found the path. We just have to help him keep on it."
And help him keep on that path is what Martha had done with a vengeance over the next week. Jack couldn't get her to leave his side for even one meal a day and she barely slept, despite the fact the Doctor was improving dramatically. But now when Jack looked up from his paperwork and checked the screen showing the infirmary, what he saw was totally unexpected. Martha had taken the Doctor off the oxygen and the Doctor's brown suit, a shirt and tie, replaced the fluids that had previously been on the IV stand. He left his office in a hurry wanting to get the latest news directly from Martha.
"How's the patient today?" Jack asked as entered the infirmary.
"He's better, much better," Martha answered as she put some medical supplies away. "Off the oxygen and brain activity shows he's just in a deep sleep now. He should be waking up in a few of hours. Definitely by days end. You should have some food ready for him, he's going to be hungry." She hesitated then continued. "I'd say make sure he doesn't eat too much, but he knows his body pretty well and gorging himself may be just what he needs."
Jack realized what her instructions meant. "You're not going to be here?"
Turning to the bed, Martha avoided Jack's gaze. Her hand went out over the Doctor's chest and hovered there for a moment, as if she was about to touch the blanket that covered it, but instead she let it drop to her side. Jack noticed her ring finger was now bare, the engagement ring nowhere to be seen. "No, he doesn't need medical attention now and I have to get back to UNIT." The regret was obvious in her voice.
"Surely they can wait a few more hours till he's up and around."
Martha stared at the Doctor's face and sighed. "They can, I can't. If I stay… Jack, I fell in love with a man who didn't exist. I need to straighten that out. Figure out what I want do with my life." Her hand reached out and gently brushed the Time Lord's hair from his forehead. "If I stay, he might ask me to go with him, and I don't know if I could resist. But it's a poor trade, leaving the man who never was, to run after the willow the wisp. I need to know my own mind first. I need to know I'm running to a new life, not just away from an old one." She faced Jack as if daring him to find fault.
"He might not ask you, you know," Jack reasoned, trying to get her to stay.
"Then it's his decision and I need it to be mine, as my first step in taking back control of my life."
"He's going to wonder why you aren't here."
"But he won't ask, I know him." She took a pad from the counter and wrote quickly. "Here give him this," she said as she handed the note to Jack.
Jack looked at the note in surprise. "Your mobile number?"
"Yes, remind him, that the phone receives calls as well as sends them. He doesn't have to wait for me to call him. I'll be there for him, whenever he needs me."
As he put the note in his pocket Jack nodded. Personally he doubted the number would ever be used. Admitting he needed help was hardly one of the Doctor's strong points. "So is that it?" Jack asked. "No other instructions?"
"Yes, there is one thing, get him to talk about what he's been through."
"Me?" Jack pulled a face and pointed to his own chest, incredulous. "How am I supposed to get him to talk? I think it would be better if you stayed and did it."
"Jack, I've heard you two. He opens up to you. I don't know if it's because he's more comfortable with you or respects you." Jack's eyebrows shot up at that and he cut off a short bark of laughter. "No, really Jack, he does. But it might just be that… Well, you are a con man. One of your skills is getting people to tell you things they didn't intend to."
"I don't see him as a mark." Jack protested.
Martha reached out her hand and touched the captain's forearm. "I know you don't," she said kindly. "But you still have the skills and," Martha smiled fondly at him as she shook her head, "you can't help using them. With the Doctor, it's good that you do. I had to stage a sit down strike to get him to admit his planet had been destroyed and he was the last of his kind. You, he talks to. He answers your questions."
"He didn't this time. He was evasive about everything, from why he was here, to if he was hungry."
"I know, Ianto told me. But still, you need to try, and you will have a better chance than I would. Maybe with that thing out of him, he'll open up a little easier."
The Torchwood leader frowned. "I hope it's out of him. I'd love to give him another scan, but the device is dead now. No power."
"Don't borrow trouble when you don't need to. You didn't see his face before he passed out, it was him and only him. And the device did show you'd gotten it all before failed."
A sigh followed by the rustle of bed clothes broke into Martha and Jack's conversation. The Doctor had rolled onto his side.
"Jack, it's time for me to go," Martha whispered as she quietly walked over to the cot and picked her bag up off it.
"Should I stay here?" Jack asked softly.
Martha shook her head then beckoned for him to follow her up the stairway. Once they were outside the room she explained, "You should let him wake up by himself. He's been out a long time. Give him some space while he acclimates."
Jack nodded, he understood the reasoning. "Are you sure you don't want to stay? I'd feel more comfortable if you were here."
Martha looked down and stared at the bag in her hand as she bit her lip before nodding and turning her attention back to Jack. "Alright, I promise not the leave the Quay until you let me know he's fine. But…" she looked up at one of the screens that displayed the medical readout on the Doctor, "I think he's going to be awake before I get to the car park." She offered her hand to Jack.
"A handshake? After all we've been through?" Jack protested as he held his arms wide.
With a generous smile on her face, Martha dropped her bag and stepped forward into his embrace. She returned it tentatively at first, but soon Jack felt her pull him close with a fierceness that surprised him. He waited for her to relax and then took her by the shoulders and held her slightly away from him, fixing his eyes on hers. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked.
She nodded a slight glistening in her eyes. "Yes, I'll be fine. I know what I need to do now."
"Good. You know, there is a position here for you, if you ever want it."
"Thank you Jack, I'll keep that in mind." Her smile told Jack she was complimented, but most likely would not take him up on the offer. She glanced again at the monitor. "I really need to be off. Take care of him Jack." Then, without another word, she picked up her bag and was out the door.
On his way to his office Jack was interrupted by Ianto. "Is everything alright sir?" his aid asked holding out a cup of fresh coffee for him. Jack took it gratefully.
"It appears to be. Martha says he's just asleep now and should wake up at any moment. Are there any new developments with the TARDIS?"
"The protective circle is still contracting but it's also changed shape, more like a pear."
Jack frowned. "A pear? Show me."
Sipping his coffee Jack followed his aide to his workstation. There Ianto pulled up the necessary display. "See this is what it was like three weeks ago when the Doctor collapsed," he explained. The display showed random green dots, representing people in the Plass, with a dark circular area in the middle. "I'll move through the past three weeks." The dark area shrank as more dots encroached on it. Then it started to change, holding the border on the side corresponding to the entrance of the TARDIS and shrinking on the sides and rear. Definitely a pear shape as Ianto had reported.
Jack placed his hand on Ianto's desk and leaned forward, studying the screen. "Can you run the timeline again, slower this time?"
"Certainly, sir." The simulation ran again. The dark area developed a bulge in front of the door before the sides started collapsing. But what did it mean? Why the collapse at all? His first thought was conservation of power, but she was parked on the rift, with all the power it gave her that shouldn't be necessary? Maybe it was, as Gwen had suggest when the area had started shrinking, the start of forgiveness. Or perhaps she was just bored with pushing everyone away. If so, then soon she should just go back to her old mode of using the perception filter to not be noticed. Not be so aggressive.
Gwen interrupted his thoughts as she came up behind him. "Jack, Ianto, I think our patient is awake,"
The TARDIS forgotten, Jack pushed away from Ianto's desk and hurried to the workstation that served as the main control for the cameras in the infirmary. There he saw the Time Lord was indeed awake and sitting up. Jack zoomed a camera in on him and was rewarded with a rather nonplused glare from the Doctor who stood up and let the bedclothes fall away from him as he did so. With regret, Jack resisted temptation and yielded to the Doctor's unspoken demand, turning the camera so it's only view was a wall, hoping he was doing the right thing. Praying Martha was correct and it was just the Doctor in the infirmary and nothing else.