Time Doesn't Always Run Straight
Interlude
Interlude time. This chapter deals with the team's night at the hotel while the avoid themselves. It is very Jestine heavy so if you don't like her feel free to skip it. A slightly darker chapter than some of the others and there will be more like this as the story progresses. Some background on Jestine. Thank you once again to everyone who is reading, following and favorting. And as always thank you so so much for the people who are taking the time to review. Your reviews are amazing and make me write twice as fast so thank you.
Jestine reluctantly follows the team into the hotel.
"So sleeping arrangements?" Owen asks as they move into the small lounge room of the first room. They had only managed to get three double rooms.
"I still say I don't need to stay the night." Jestine grumbles.
"And I said I don't care. I'm going to check you over and deal with your injuries. At which point you are going to eat a healthy meal and then sleep." Owen orders.
"I told you, I don't need your help. I've managed much worse on my own, just winded."
Jack can't help but feel sad at the statement. None of them knew much about Jestine but it was clear that she hadn't had anyone to rely on in the past.
"Well I don't care what you did in the past. I'm your doctor and I say you are staying here and sleeping. God knows you need it, the amount of night shifts you take." Owen mutters the last part.
Jestine grumbles but gives up arguing.
"Right, I'm going to need another look at the gun shot, as well as checking for any other injury you got from your foolishness." Owen explains as he starts going through the first aid kit they kept in the SUV.
Jestine nods before she starts to unbutton her now ruined top.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" Jack asks in shock.
Jestine looks at him in puzzlement. "Owen said he needs to look at my injuries. Unless he is in possession of the ability to see through clothing they need to be removed." She explains.
"You're bloody kidding me." Owen stares at Jestine in disbelief.
"I don't understand. You were the one that insisted that I show you my injuries." Jestine looks around the room bewildered.
"Here, um, in the 21st century, we don't normally remove our clothes in the company of others." Ianto tries to explain.
Jestine blinks in confusion. "But how was Owen to examine me if my clothes are covering them?"
"First I don't actually need you to take your clothes off. Secondly I was going to do it in one of the others rooms. You know, for privacy." Owen explains.
"Bloody hell, is that what all your lot do, just take their clothes off wherever." Gwen glares at Jestine. She was grateful for what Jestine had done but she had had enough of her and her lies and would be glad when Jack told her to leave.
Jestine frowns. "What do you mean, 'your lot'?"
"She means your family." Ianto explains, a little surprised at Jestine's lack of understanding.
Jestine shakes her head. "I don't have any family."
"Everyone has a family. They might not be their parents but surely you grew up with other people, people who cared for you and looked after you." Tosh feels sorry for her. Her family meant everything to her and it still hurt that she didn't get to see them as much as she wanted. Sure she saw them more now than when she had first started at Torchwood but it still wasn't as much as she liked.
Jestine's voice becomes cold. "I have no family. I did at times have prolonged contact with others but I have never had a family."
The team doesn't know what to say and the room falls into an uncomfortable silence that is only broken once food is delivered.
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Owen watches Jestine to make sure she eats. She sighs in frustration after a few minutes of his scrutiny. "I'm eating, stop staring."
Owen sighs. "You should be eating three times every day."
Jestine looks at Owen in shock. "Three times? A day? I'll be sick."
Owen glares at her. "As your doctor I'm telling you to eat three times a day. You won't get sick."
"Actually she could." Jack interjects. "She might look human but there are some species that can go long periods of time without food but if you try and force them to eat like us they can become very sick.
Jestine frowns. "I don't think I am though." She then shrugs. "Just don't need to eat much though."
"Well you are eating when I tell you to." Owen orders. "Now your sleeping patterns. Please tell me you have slept in the last few days." He had a feeling that there was a reason she always volunteered for night shift, he just needed to find out why.
"But why would you want me to tell you a lie?" Jestine once again frowns in confusion. "Isn't lying considered to be bad in this culture?"
"What Owen meant was he had hoped you had slept in the last few days." Jack frowns as he explains. "And lying is bad in almost all cultures."
Jestine shrugs. "Rule 2, everyone lies. Any way I don't need to sleep yet. I slept approximately 5 of your days ago."
Owen splutters. "You haven't slept in 5 days?"
Jestine frowns. "Yeah, is that not normal?"
"Not only is it not normal, it's not healthy." Owen glares. "You should be sleeping every night."
Jestine looks sceptically at Owen. "You are lying. While I accept I sleep less than others I know, it wouldn't be possible for everyone to sleep every night. Who would keep guard?"
"Some people do have jobs that require them to be awake at night but most people sleep every night." Jack explains. "Whoever your parents were, I doubt they were full human." He comments.
"So she's alien?" Gwen asks.
"Well I'm not from this planet so I guess that make me alien." Jestine shrugs.
"But you're not human." Ianto clarifies.
"Don't know, I'm guessing I have some kind of human heritage." Jestine replies.
"You don't seem to know much about your past." Jack comments.
"Like I said, my parents are dead, I moved around a lot and no one cares about your past in the Time Agency."
Gwen snorts. "You're lying, you just don't want to tell us. We still don't know anything about you. We don't even know your real name."
"I...I don't know my real name." Jestine frowns as if she had only just realised she was missing this crucial piece of information.
Gwen snorts again. "I know you're lying. Everyone knows their name."
Jestine pauses a moment, trying to work out what to explain to Gwen. "I haven't used my name is so long, why would I bother remembering it?"
"Why don't you use your real name?" Tosh asks.
"Because that is my past. Why look spend my life looking back, the past holds nothing for me." Jestine explains, her voice void of emotion.
"What about friends? Celebrations? Surely you have something you want to remember?" Jack asks. While things hadn't always been great for him in the past, there were still moments he liked to remember.
Jestine shakes her head. She looks away from the team. "Nothing, these is nothing. Everything is gone, swept away by a storm of blood and pain." The team strain to hear her, her voice barely a whisper.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realise." Jack tries to comfort her.
She looks him directly in the eye. "I don't look back because I can't. All I see is everything that was taken from me and everything I took." The team look at her in shock.
"Why did you join the Time Agency?" Jack desperately wants to talk about something else but realises that he might not have this chance again. And he needed to know more about Jestine.
"To get back at those who took from me." Jestine replies with a smirk. Jack doesn't need to ask what she means.
"So what, because someone hurt your feelings you killed them?" Gwen asks furiously.
"An eye for an eye. Isn't that what that old earth saying is?" Jestine mocks Gwen. "And they did more than hurt my feelings." She glares at Gwen.
Gwen glares back. "You think that makes it ok for you to kill someone, to get even with them."
"Nothing makes killing ok, I merely explained why I did it, was that not what you wanted?"
"But you killed for revenge?" Jack needs to know, needs to know if there is any chance at all that he could let her stay with Torchwood.
Jestine turns her gaze to Jack. "Is there ever one reason? Revenge, duty, love, hatred, choice between my life and theirs. What does it matter? They die the same regardless of how you justify it."
"I told you she couldn't be trusted." Gwen snaps. "We should get rid of her before she kills us too."
"Just because I can take a life with hesitation doesn't mean I will. I bear you no ill-will Gwen, there is no reason for me to kill you." Jestine replies calmly to Gwen.
"What if you suddenly think there is a reason?" Gwen snarls at her.
"I am a warrior. I will take a life if I need to." Jestine answers.
"You heard her Jack. She will kill us if she stays." Gwen shrieks.
"Gwen calm down." Jack tries to be patient with her but she had been goading Jestine into answering. He turns to Jestine. "While I get you don't understand all the social normalities of the 21st century you should know that that was just not appropriate."
"You were just telling me before that I should be honest." Jestine tries to protest.
"Owen go check Jestine's injuries." Jack orders, just wanting Jestine out of the room. Jestine is wise enough to not argue and just follow Owen.
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"You need to make her leave now." Gwen demanded as soon as Owen and Jestine leave.
"Gwen, you've already made it clear where you stand with Jestine so I don't want to hear any more from you on the topic." Jack looks at Gwen sternly.
"But why aren't you telling her to leave?" Gwen glares at Jack.
"We need more people. She could be useful to have on the team." Jack explains in the hope it might make Gwen quiet.
"But she lied to all of us. We don't know anything about her. She could be planning to kill us this very moment." Gwen raises her voice.
Jack narrows his eyes at her. "I doubt she is plotting to kill us. If she wanted us dead we would already be dead. I am considering letting her stay on. If she does you are not to question me anymore on this manner. If you don't agree you can leave Torchwood."
Gwen gapes at Jack, she hadn't expected him to react like that. Surely he could see that Jestine was a danger to the team. Clearly Jestine had tricked him with the Time Agency bit. "Fine, you do that, but just wait and see, it will blow up in your face." She quickly flounces out.
Jack sighs. He had forgotten how bad Gwen could be when she didn't get her own way.
"I think you should." Tosh shyly speaks up. "Even if we didn't need her, I think she needs us."
Jack looks at her questionably.
"She hasn't ever had anyone there for her, never had a family. I know we aren't much but we're something, especially for someone like her." Tosh blushes slightly.
Ianto smiles warmly at Tosh. "I agree."
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"At the Time Agency, what did you do?" Owen asks cautiously as he and Jestine enter the room.
Jestine shrugs as she sits down. "Depends on whether you mean officially or unofficially."
"Officially we made sure the timelines stayed intact." She explains.
"And unofficially?" Owen asks as he checks her ribs.
"Depends on the person. It was common knowledge almost everyone was doing something they weren't meant to." She pauses for a moment before continuing. "Most people who join the Time Agency have a reason beyond doing their duty."
"What does that mean?" Owen asks as he checks her other side.
"It depends on the person. Some wanted to get rich, some to be powerful, some to get revenge on those who wronged them and some to find things they had lost."
"And you joined for revenge." Owen states.
Jestine shakes her head. "No, not to begin with." She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before continuing. "I just wanted to find what they had taken from me. But when I found them it was too late. The only option I had was revenge." Owen swears he can hear sadness in Jestine's voice but when he looks, her face is as hard and emotionless as stone.
"What was it that you were after?" Owen asks as he checks Jestine bullet wound.
Jestine stiffens but doesn't reply.
"Doesn't look like you did too much damage to it at least." Owen takes the hint as he cleans it again and reapplies a bandage. "You will have normal function of it within a few weeks. But till then I don't want you doing anything physically strenuous. Which means on field work for the next month."
"What does it matter, I'm leaving anyway." Jestine mutters sulkily.
"Are you really?" Owen asks as he finishes patching her up.
"Well I can't stay can I?" Jestine replies
"Why not?" Owen queries as he packs things back into the first aid kit, confident that there wasn't anything wrong with her.
"Timelines." Jestine mutters. "Plus you lot just found out that I was lying to you. There's no way you will want me to stay."
Owen turns to look at her. "I'm not going to lie. I was annoyed to find out you lied to us but I do understand why, so do the others."
"Gwen doesn't. Plus Jack doesn't want me to stay. He knows how dangerous I am." Jestine answers sadly.
Owen shrugs. "I think Jack might be coming around to the idea of you staying around."
Jestine shakes her head. "He couldn't possibly. It doesn't matter. I have to leave."
"Where would you go?" Owen asks curiously.
Jestine shrugs. "I could go anywhere or when."
"So where or when would you like to go?" Owen asks.
"Home." Jestine whispers sadly. "I would like to go home but I can't."
Owen places a comforting hand on her. "You're already home. You might not believe it but you belong here. Just because we aren't related to you doesn't matter. We care about you and we want you to stay. We can't make you do anything you don't want to but consider staying."
Owen leaves Jestine sitting on the bed and considering his words.
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"How did it go?" Jack asks as Owen enters the room.
"I'll recommend she has a month off duty but there shouldn't be any complications." Owen replies as he sits down next to Tosh. "Are you considering keeping her on?"
Jack sighs. "I don't know. She certainly has the skills and knowledge that we need."
"But you think she's too dangerous." Owen reads between the lines.
"She was a part of the Time Agency. Plus there is so much we don't know about her." Jack explains.
"You were a part of the Time Agency." Tosh points out.
"And I changed. I'm nothing like I was back then. I just don't know if she is safe to have around." Jack admits.
"For what it's worth I think you should keep her around." Owen adds his opinion.
"We need more people, people who know what they are doing." Owen explains. "Plus wouldn't it be better for us to have her here where we can keep an eye on her instead of her being any where or when?"
Jack nods in agreement.
"Plus she has nowhere else to go." Owen mutters sadly.
"We seem to be in the habit of bringing strays." Jack chuckles. "Where is she?"
"I think she needed a few minutes to think some things through." Owen explains. "Where is Gwen?"
"She didn't like the fact that Jack was thinking about asking Jestine to stay." Tosh clarifies as she rests her hand next to Owen's.
"She might be difficult to convince, they didn't always get along even before we knew Jestine had lied to us." Owen brushes his hand against Tosh's.
Jack smiles at the interaction. They had both been through some rough times and deserved to be happy. But he was willing to kick Owen's arse if he ever hurt Tosh.
"We will need to teach her about what is and isn't acceptable. Plus a brush up on English." Jack plans.
Ianto frowns. "Do you think English isn't her first language?"
"It isn't. Plus isn't it considered rude to talk about people behind their back?" Jestine had just slipped through the door at Ianto's comment.
Ianto blushes slightly at having been caught out. Jestine laughs. "Just teasing. Still, anything interesting you has to say about me?" Jestine flops into the free armchair.
"We were wondering whether you wanted to be a part of the team." Jack offers.
Jestine looks around the room at the Torchwood team. She grimaces. "I would love to but I can't."
"Why not?" Owen asks.
"I can't, Timelines." Jestine answers.
Jack shakes his head. "It doesn't matter about the Time Agency."
Jestine looks down to her feet, unable to face the team. "I know you from more than the Time Agency. I know you at a later point in your timeline."
"You know Torchwood in the future?" Ianto asks, surprised.
Jestine shakes her head, still refusing to look at any of the team. "I only know Jack. He had left Earth. He had ran from Earth to the stars."
"You leave us again?" Ianto asks, his heartbreak obvious in his voice.
Jack doesn't know how to answer. He had no plans to leave anytime soon but obviously he knew he would eventually, but he had always thought it would be long in the future. "When do you know me?" He asks.
Jestine shakes her head. "I don't know how long but it's well after now. You never said exactly what happened. You didn't really talk." She looks away. "You looked so so sad, like your whole world was gone." Jestine bites her lip guilty.
"Did I ever tell you any details?" Jack stammers, his mind racing.
"No, nothing. Only that you let your team down and that you were so sorry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." Jestine gets up. "I'll just go, it was nice while it lasted."
Jack reaches out and grabs hold of Jestine's arm. "No, don't. It's not your fault." He lets go to rub his face with his hands. "You sure that I never told you anything at all about Torchwood?"
"Nothing, nothing that could warn me about anything that happened." Jestine suddenly pauses, her eyes wide. "You knew, you bloody knew." The team are taken aback by her outburst.
She glares at Jack. "You knew. You knew I was going to be here but never warned me."
Jack puts his hands up defensively. "I haven't, at least not yet. Plus if I did, it would have been changing my past."
Jestine flops back on the armchair angrily. "You always knew but never told me."
"I could say the same about you and the Time Agency." Jack points out.
"That was different." Jestine sulks.
"How?" Jack teases.
"Because I didn't know. I never knew anything about you." Jestine confesses. "At first, when I first saw the future you, I thought you were the you I knew but then I saw your eyes." Jestine sighs. "Your eyes were so old, even older than now. And so sad. It hurt to look into those eyes. You were so different, even to who you are now. I'm sorry that you have to become that guy."
The room falls into silence, each person trying to process everything that had just happened.
"So where does this leave us?" Jestine asks after a few minutes of silence.
"Well from what we know so far; you know me in the past but I don't remember you and you know me in the future but you don't know anything important." Jack recaps.
"Time-travel is a bitch." Jestine mutters. "But what I mean is do you want me gone?"
Jack looks at her. He can see her uncertainly, the fear of rejection. She knew so much of him but he knew nothing of her. Yet, he felt like he did. There was something about her that seemed so familiar. How was she connected to him? To have meet him at three different points in his life, all seemingly without meaning to. He couldn't help but suspect there was something more going on, more than even Jestine might know.
"No." He tries to smile but it turns to more of a grimace. "This was big but it doesn't change the fact that we want you to be a part of the team."
"Thank you." Jestine smiles at Jack. It wasn't a huge smile but was sincere and conveyed her emotions.
"As much as I love this touching moment, Jestine needs to get some sleep and I would suggest the same for everyone else." Owen breaks the moment.
"I don't need to sleep." Jestine grumbles. "I not even tired."
"Then you can have a sleeping tablet. Sleep will help you heal sooner." Owen isn't taking no for an answer. "And I will be sharing a room with you so I will know if you don't sleep."
Jestine sighs but trudges off without further comment.
Jack looks guilty at Tosh. "Do you mind sharing with Gwen?"
Tosh smiles sweetly at Jack. "I'm sure she has calmed down by now."
"Toshiko Sato, you are a saint." Jack tells her as her and Owen make to leave.
"And don't you forget it." Tosh smiles as she leaves.
Jack turns to Ianto. "I guess we're sharing then." He tries to not fiddle.
"Separate beds." Ianto jokily warns. Jack puts his hands up in mock protest.
"I am a gentlemen, I don't know why you would expect less." Jack jokes back.
He is rewarded with a small smile from Ianto. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you are back and that you won't be leaving for a long time."
Jack smiles back at Ianto as they make their way to bed.
Next up is Sleeper but I will apologise in advance as it could be a few weeks before I update. I have a lot of uni assignments due at the same time so they will unfortunately have to come first but I will try my best to get a new update as soon as possible. Once again thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think.