Time Doesn't Always Run Straight
To The Last Man
Part 2
So new chapter today because 1. It was like a month between updates before this, 2. I couldn't wait and 3. The last few days have been awesome for why not. I got my final results for uni on Friday and then my parents surprised me with a (2nd hand but awesome) car on Saturday and today (Sunday) I went to a Doctor Who pop up store and got some awesome stuff. Hope everyone else has been having a good time. Not long till the 50th!. Thank you to everyone who is still reading and for those who take the time to review. I would really appreciate if more of you could take the time to leave even a quick review.
"So what do you want to do?" Jestine asks as they leave through the tourist information center, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"I don't know where to start. I want to do everything." Tommy replies. "I only have one day."
"Well then, let's make it a day to remember." Jestine smirks before grabbing his hand and leading him towards the garage.
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"Hey. What you up to?" Gwen comes bounding into Jack's office where he and Ianto had been talking.
Jack shows her the slides of Gerald and Harriet.
"He's a bit of all right." Gwen points to Gerald.
"He's the boss." Ianto tells her as he resists the urge to roll his eyes at Gwen.
"It's part of the criteria to be boss. Gotta be hot." Jack grins causing Ianto to roll his eyes and Gwen to giggle.
"She's all right, too. Harriet Derbyshire." Ianto changes the subject before Jack's head explodes from his ego.
"I wonder what happened to her." Gwen muses out loud.
"She died the year after that was taken. Twenty-six years old." Ianto answers Gwen.
"So young." Gwen looks down at the picture with sadness.
"They all were." Ianto tells her as he picks up another slide that has five people in it. "Nothing changes."
Jack clears his throat. "Hey Gwen, how about you go check out the hospitable?" He suggest, hoping to be able to get Ianto on his own to find out why the young Welshman seemed so depressed.
"Ok." Gwen smiles at Jack, knowing he had made the right choice in trusting her with the important job. "And bloody cheer up, will you?" Gwen tells Ianto as she is about to leave, no one wants to hear such a downer.
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"You aren't serious are you?" Tommy asks as he watches Jestine jump on board a motorcycle.
"Sure, why not?" Jestine grins at him as she puts on a helmet. "You said you wanted to do everything."
Tommy hesitates for a second before grabbing the helmet Jestine held out to him. "Just remember Torchwood needs me so you can't kill me." Tommy reminds her as she starts the engine.
Jestine gives a snort. "I'll have you know I am a fantastic driver, learnt from the best." Jestine grins as she reeves.
Tommy looks doubtful as he clings to her as they roar out of the garage.
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Gwen walks through the hospital. She looks all around her, not sure what it was that Jack wanted her to see but knew it had to be important if he had sent her.
Gwen thinks that she hears something and turns back to look.
As she does so something in the air seems to have changed and shifted a little but she doesn't notice.
Gwen shakes off the feeling of someone watching her and continues on through the large empty ward.
Suddenly a man with an amputated lower right leg and crutches appears in front of her as the lights flicker. Gwen stops suddenly in shock.
"Hello." She greets him in surprise.
The man just ignores her.
"I said hello." Gwen repeats, angry that the man didn't even acknowledge her.
He still doesn't answer her. Instead he starts walking towards her and shows no sign of stopping.
Gwen backs away, concerned about this man who seems content to walk right into her.
"Can you hear me? Look, can you hear me?" Gwen practically pleads as her back hits the wall with the man nearly upon her. "If you just, just –
Gwen raises her hands to protect herself from the guy, closing her eyes bracing for the impact. When it doesn't come she opens her eyes and looks around. There is no sign of the man, anywhere.
Gwen stands there for a moment, trying to work out what had just happened before heading out of the room.
She runs back though the corridor that she had entered from, looking for signs of the man.
Gwen comes to another room, one that appears to be under construction.
Plastic sheeting is up on the windows and back doors with ladders resting around the place and plastic on the floor.
Once again Gwen thinks she hears something behind her but when she turns around there is nothing there. She continues through the room once she determines it was nothing.
"Hello?" She calls out as she moves towards the back door.
Predictably there is no answer. But she then notices the lights in the room flickering. She reaches and taps the lamp. She fiddles with the light switch but nothing seems to stop the flickering.
Then the lights go out. Gwen twirls around, looking to find whoever/whatever had turned off the lights.
A door slams shut behind her, startling her in her heightened state.
She lets out a sigh of relief as she notices there are three construction workers now in the room with her.
"Are you all right, love? You look as if you've seen a ghost." The foreman asks her.
Gwen quickly nods before leaving sheepishly.
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"See it wasn't that bad was it." Jestine grins as she pulls up to the curb.
Tommy stumbles off. "Never going on that again." He declares.
Jestine pouts. "Spoilsport. What next?"
Tommy turns around and grins when he sees the carnival. "How about that?"
Jestine looks at the carnival grounds with confusion. "What is it?"
"You've never been to a carnival before?" Tommy asks with shock.
Jestine shakes her head.
"You have been missing out." Tommy tells her. "There are rides and games and sideshow attractions."
"Why not?" Jestine shrugs before heading to the entrance, leaving a grinning Tommy following behind.
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Jack, Ianto and Gwen are back at the hospital. Jack looks around as Ianto checks on a monitor.
"They're knocking down the hospital." It's more a statement than a question from Jack.
"Yeah, that's what they said. Could that have triggered the time-shift?" Gwen had relayed what she had seen and heard to Jack and was pleased that she was the one that had been able to investigate and work out what was happening.
"Could have. Maybe all the psychic trauma and rift energy charged it up like a battery. 1918, this place was full of wounded soldiers." Ianto replies as he watches Jack crouch down low to the ground and place his right hand flat on the floors as if he was feeling the essence of the room.
"They had four years of it. Passchendaele, the Somme ... A million British soldiers killed during the Great War. It was like walking into hell." Jack adds as he stands up and dusts his hands off. "Believe me. I was there." He mutters then turns on his comm.
"Tosh, Owen, either of you got anything?"
"All quiet here. Just that little spike from earlier." Tosh tells him.
"Do we need to get Jestine and Tommy back in?" Owen asks.
"Not yet. Just keep watching." Jack replies as they head for the door.
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Jestine and Tommy leave the carnival with a large stuff elephant won from one of the sideshows.
"How did you get involved with Torchwood?" Tommy asks as he sits down on a bench.
Jestine gives a derisive snort. "You wouldn't believe me."
"I'm a solider from 1918 that gets defrosted once a year to make sure I work ok and then re-frozen till I'm needed to save the world." Tommy points out.
Jestine laughs at that. "Ok, good point." She turns serious. "Some things happened. I left where I was. I had no plan, nowhere to go. I initially thought it was just chance that I ended up here."
"But now you don't?" Tommy asks.
Jestine shakes her head. "I know who was behind me ending up here. I just wish I knew why." Jestine sighs.
"But you weren't conscripted. I mean, it's your choice, right?" Tommy asks.
Jestine shrugs. "Kinda. I didn't choose to be here and it was really a chance meeting with the team. But I choose to stay. At least most of the time." Jestine frowns. "I don't know. My life, it's complicated." Jestine finishes.
Tommy chuckles. "I can sympathise."
Jestine chuckles too. "How do normal people cope with the simplicity?" She jokes.
Tommy fidgets nervously for a moment or two. "I know it's none of my business, but are Tosh and Owen courting?" He finally asks.
"Courting?" Jestine asks confused.
Tommy frowns as he tries to find a better word. "Would dating be the more appropriate term?"
"Oh, yeah, I guess they are." Jestine replies disinterestedly. "Why? You and Tosh have a thing?"
"Have romantic and/or sexual interactions?" Jestine clarifies at Tommy's reaction.
Tommy blushes slightly at Jestine's question. "No. But I've known Tosh for a few years now." He then stops for a moment. "Well a few days for me but few years for her. And you could see that she was in love with Owen but he never paid her attention. But this time it was different. She seemed happier." Tommy explains.
Jestine nods. "I did note certain feelings between the two of them when I first joined the team."
Tommy looks at Jestine before shaking his head but does not comment.
They sit in a comfortable silence for a few moments until Jestine speaks again. "Right, after all that mushy stuff, I think we need a drink."
"As long as it isn't by your motorcycle. I think I've taken enough risks for the day." Tommy teases as he helps Jestine up.
"You can just walk then." Jestine teases as they stand there, inches from each other.
"Still safer." Tommy teases back before he leans in and places a soft kiss to Jestine's lips.
Jestine responds for a moment before suddenly pulling back, blinking in confusion.
"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that." Tommy apologises.
Jestine shakes her head. "No, it's fine. I just wasn't expecting it." Jestine mutters but her mind seems elsewhere. "We should grab that drink."
She quickly turns and heads towards a place she knows. Tommy follows silently behind, hoping he hasn't upset Jestine too much.
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As Jack, Gwen and Ianto continue through the dark hallways Jack stops and turns around.
"Jack?" Gwen asks.
Jack indicates for her to be silent while he listens.
"Jack" Gwen says again, getting annoyed at all the people ignoring her today.
"Shh." Jack frowns as he tries to hear, Ianto rolling his eyes at Gwen once again being unable to follow instructions.
"Go ahead." Jack motions for Gwen to keep moving forward while he and Ianto turn back around.
Gwen grumbles under her breath at Ianto being the one to go with Jack but then calms her mood when she realises this is only because Ianto couldn't be trusted to investigate on his own, unlike her.
Jack turns a corner and turns on his flashlight with Ianto silently doing the same just behind him.
They both turn back as they hear singing.
"Tick-tock, wind up the clock I like them all ..." The singing is followed by a nurse pushing a patient in a wheelchair at what appears to be at the end of the corridor.
"I bet you say that to all the girls." The nurse laughs.
"Show me a skirt, and my brain simply whirls ..." The patient keeps singing as the nurse continues to push the wheelchair through the corridor.
She heads towards Jack and Ianto but shows no sign of seeing them there.
"Shh! Matron won't have singing. You'll get a good telling off if she hears you." The nurse warns the patient.
"love their dimples and curls" Causing the nurse to giggle.
"Tick-tock, wind up the clock."
"And I start my day over again"
"Tick-tock, wind up the clock"
"And I start my day over again ..."
The nurse and patient continue on without seeming to have seen Jack or Ianto, even when Jack shone his torch on them.
"Jack, you see anything? Cos I've got small rises here." Tosh tells Jack over the comms.
"Yeah, we've got a few ghosts here." Jack tells her as he watches the nurse and patient turn the corner towards Gwen.
They both move to check on Gwen.
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"Hey." Owen greets Tosh as he sits down at his desk, having spent the morning on autopsies.
Tosh smiles back at him from her desk.
"How are you going? Being in here instead of showing Tommy around like normal?" Owen asks Tosh, trying to not sound jealous.
"I'm fine. It's good for him to be with different people." Tosh answers without looking away from her screen.
"You sure, you two have been quiet close in past years."
"But that was in the past, now he gets to spend the day with Jestine." Tosh tersely replies.
"Tosh, come on, you can tell me what's wrong. I know you aren't fine with the fact that every year you got to spend the day with Tommy and now Jestine has come along and stolen that from you." Owen moves over to Tosh.
"She didn't steal it from me." Tosh sighs, she didn't feel right talking to Owen about Tommy, not as they were now dating and she had once had a thing for Tommy.
"Come on Tosh. I know you used to like him. And honestly I don't blame you. Tommy was a gentleman who enjoyed spending time with you, gave you a chance to get away from prats like me." Owen tells her as he gives her a hug.
"You're not a prat." Tosh tells Owen as she returns the hug.
"Well I was in the past. And I know I hurt you a lot. Which I am really sorry for." Owen tells her.
"Thank you Owen." Tosh smiles at him.
"So you going to tell me the problem now?" Owen asks.
Tosh sighs, realising that there is no way Owen will let her get away with not telling him.
"It's just I'm worried about Tommy. Jestine is just so different from everyone he has ever met before. I'm worried she might hurt him." Tosh confesses.
"Oh Tosh, my sweet Tosh." Owen shakes his head. "Tommy is a big boy, he can handle himself against Jestine."
"You sure? Tosh asks uncertainly. She knew that Tommy as an adult and therefore able to make his own choices but it didn't stop her worrying, especially with Jestine around.
"I'm sure." Owen kisses the top of Tosh's head.
"Thank you." Tosh is so glad in that moment that she had taken the chance on Owen instead of spending all her time pinning over a man she saw only once a year.
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"Hey can I have a scotch straight up." Jestine asks the bartender before turning to Tommy. "What do you want?"
"Half bitter thanks." Tommy smiles as he scans the room, his eyes settling on the TV hung above the bar.
His smile fades as he watches. The TV tells of Iraqi soldier and civilians being killed from a roadside bomb.
Jestine gives him a sympathetic smile when she realises what Tommy is seeing on TV.
"Seems like there's always a war somewhere." Tommy mutters as he watches the images.
Jestine just nods silently, knowing to deny it would be to tell a lie neither her or Tommy would ever believe.
"The first year they woke me up ... 1919 ... they told me it was all over. We won. The war to end all wars, they said. And then three weeks later, you had the Second World War. After all that." Tommy grabs their drinks and heads to a table.
Jestine downs most of the drink as they sit.
"Do you never wonder if we're worth saving? The human race." Tommy asks. "After everything you have seen and done out there, how can you fight to save us when we are fighting ourselves?"
Jestine sighs. "Yeah. I think you're worth saving. Wars and all. If it helps one person live a normal life, it is worth it. Anyway it's the same throughout time and space. Harmony is rare no matter where or when you are but worth fighting for."
"What?" Jestine asks as Tommy smiles at her shyly.
Tommy blushes. "I was just thinking ... I'd do anything for you. Yeah, all you have to do is say, "Tommy, you're my brave, handsome hero, and I need you." Tommy laughs embarrassed.
Jestine draws a sharp breath and closes her eyes. When she opens them again, there is a distinct sadness swimming in her eyes, a sadness that seems beyond her age.
"Oh Tommy." Jestine sighs. "That's so sweet but no. Not me."
"I'm serious. I would do anything for you." Tommy tells her again, grasping her hands.
"You don't even know me." Jestine shakes her head.
"I know we only met today but there is a connection between us. I can feel it. Nothing you have done in the past would change that." Tommy pleads.
Jestine tares her hands away from his. "I wish I could believe you Tommy. Can you just not." Jestine looks away.
Tommy moves his hand to Jestine's chin, moving it so she is forced to look him in the eye. "I don't care who you were in the past. It's not important. All I care is who you are now. And that I would do anything for you, regardless of whether you want me to or not." And Tommy leans in, his lips meeting hers in a soft, gentle, comforting kiss.
When they break free Jestine is smiling, even if it doesn't quite reach her eyes.
Tommy smiles back at her when suddenly there is a small whooshing sound. Tommy grimaces, holding his head.
Jestine looks at him with concern. "Hey, you ok? What is it?"
"I dunno. I just felt something." Tommy tells Jestine as he rubs his head from the lingering pain.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read. Please, please review to let me know what you thought, even if its a simple as saying you do/don't like Jestine or the changes I've made. Any little bit helps me improve. Thank you.